Radiance
by Deklos
Summary: The story of Final Fantasy IV with a slight twist: What if the incident in the Village of Mist had happened a little differently...? [Chapter 5 Up]
1. Book I, Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IV and the official English (mis)translations of the game belong to Square-Enix, not me. Any original ideas or characters I may introduce _do_ belong to me, however.

This is going to be something of an alternate universe version of the story of Final Fantasy IV. It is not intended to be a novelization (though parts of it will seem like a novelization), but rather I decided to do a bit of a "what-if." What if the scene in the Village of Mist had played out slightly differently, how would this affect the overall story of the Crystal War?

Comments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames will be laughed at.

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**Book I: The Dark Knight and the Dragoon**

_Chapter 1  
_  
Two soldiers wearily emerged from the Mist Cave. They had spent most of the day cleaving through goblins and overgrown bugs, and to top it all off they had to fight a Mist Dragon just when they thought they had made it out in one piece. Needless to say, they were exhausted from their ordeal and ready to finish up this silly package delivery. The warrior wearing jet black armor hobbled along as best he could, but they were making little progress. The Mist Dragon had attacked him more since the other warrior, a dragoon, was in the air most of the time. As a result, the dark knight managed to acquire quite the collection of injuries in the places his armor didn't completely cover, including a leg injury that was slowing him down. The lance wielding soldier stopped and looked at his friend with concern.

"Cecil," he said, "I think we should stop here for the night so that we can dress those wounds. You're in no condition to be traveling after that fight."

"I'm fine," the dark knight replied, "It's only a little further to the village of Mist, and we'll be able to rest better there than in a tent out here. I'll just drink a potion to dull the pain, and we'll be on our way in no time."

"I don't think so," the dragoon said as he blocked Cecil's path, "Those wounds aren't just scratches, and it's still a few hours journey to Mist. Drinking a potion and just continuing on would just make those wounds worse by the time we got to the village. Besides, Rosa would kill me if she found out that I let you travel in the condition you're in."

The dark knight stopped in his tracks for a minute, apparently thinking. Kain hated when his friend did this during a mission. The dark horned helmet of the dark knights completely masked their faces, masking their facial expressions completely and making them appear like emotionless and fearless demons on the battlefield. At the same time, however, this made it difficult for others to figure out what they were thinking. The dragoon simply waited in annoyance while his comrade weighed the consequences of his intended path.

"I just want to get this over with, Kain," Cecil said in a pained voice, "I want to drop off this stupid package and get back to Baron as soon as I can so that I can get my old position back and maybe begin to make amends for my actions in Mysidia."

Kain was silent for a moment before replying quietly, "Cecil, it's not your fault, you were just obeying the king and doing your duty. The blame for any wrong done in Mysidia rests solely on the shoulders of the king since he's the one who ordered it."

"So what should I do, then?" the dark knight asked bitterly, "Do whatever the king says, even if he orders us to slaughter innocents?"

"You're tired," Kain said with a sigh, "Physically _and_ emotionally. Let's rest here, think about what to do about the strange way the king's been acting lately, and head to Mist tomorrow."

Cecil said nothing to this. Instead, he took off his backpack and rummaged around for a while. Kain watched him curiously, not knowing what Cecil was up to. He breathed a sigh of relief, however, when he saw Cecil withdraw his bedroll from the bag instead of a potion. Kain did likewise, and they worked together wordlessly, setting up their camp for the night.

  
The cracking fire cast elongated shadows about the campsite. The two knights of Baron lay on their bedrolls around the fire while gazed at the stars. Both of them had removed their armor, leaving them wearing only the standard issue tunics and breeches that they normally wore under their heavy armor, though Cecil sported some linen bandages in several places as well. They hadn't spoken a word to each other since the debate over whether or not to stop for the night. Kain decided that is was about time to break the silence.

"Cecil," he began slowly. Cecil heard this and looked over at his golden-haired friend.

"For what it's worth, I wish I was with you that day in Mysidia. I know you feel guilty over having to assault a town of peaceable wizards and steal their prized possession, and maybe if I had been there..."

"Stop," Cecil said sharply, "Thanks for your concern, but you _weren't_ there, and I alone am guilty for what happened since I was in charge of the mission."

"Sorry..." Kain muttered darkly. He worried about his friend. Never before had he seen Cecil act like this. Growing up, Cecil had made his share of poor choices and was punished accordingly, but he never carried the guilt and shame with him like this before. The way he was acting, it was as if something had died within him that fateful day in Mysidia.

"Kain."

The dragoon looked at his friend, ready to listen to whatever he had to say.

"What should we do now? About the king, I mean. He's always been like a father toward us since we both grew up without our own. But now...now he seems different. He ordered me to attack Mysidia and take the Crystal of Water from them. What should we do if he decides to declare war on other kingdoms in order to take their crystals?" Cecil exclaimed somewhat hysterically.

Kain let his friend calm down a bit before replying, "Cecil, we're soldiers. And soldiers obey the king. I'm not the king, so I don't know what he's thinking, but the king we know would never declare war on other countries without a good reason. Mysidia was once a province of Baron, so he may have had you raid their town to try to bring the place under Baron's control. Besides, possession of the Water Crystal will definately help develop the land around Baron."

"So was I leading a preemptive strike or something?" Cecil asked darkly.

"I don't know, Cecil," Kain said, exasperated, "The king has his reasons. We're just soldiers, we follow the king's orders."

For a while, neither of them spoke. Kain laid on his bedroll and watched the stars in the sky while Cecil sat upright and gazed at the crackling fire. The scene reminded Kain of the camping trips that the two of them would take to plains and woods around Baron back when they were still boys. Back then, monsters were far fewer in number, so doing such things was still considered somewhat safe. Of course, they had both been training to be soldiers back then, too.

Kain's reminiscing was interrupted by Cecil's voice saying, "Kain?"

"Yeah, Cecil?"

"I don't know if it helped very much, but thanks for at least trying to help me deal with the things I did in Mysidia."

"No problem. I'm you're best friend, remember?" Kain said with a slight grin.

"Of course. Let's get some rest. We still have a day's journey ahead of us tomorrow if we want to reach Mist any time soon."

The fire crackled, slowly dying into embers as the night wore on. The two friends fell asleep under the starlit sky, and for a time managed to forget that they were soldiers of Baron. Instead, they were just two friends camping out like old times.

"Mist..." The dark knight mumbled.

"What was that, Cecil?"

"I said, 'We're almost to Mist.' I can see a bit of smoke from cooking fires of the village from here," Cecil replied.

The two warriors from Baron continued to hike through the Mist Valley, the village growing closer every minute.

"What do you suppose is in the package, Cecil?" the dragoon in iron armor asked his friend.

"Probably a gift of some sort. The king probably just wanted to try to win the favor of the summoners of Mist in case other nations declared war on Baron because of Mysidia."

As they continued their journey, Kain noticed that the amount of vegetation increased as they neared the village. The rocky waste just outside of the Mist Cave became a grassy plain at the bottom of the valley with a few trees here and there. Now, there were almost enough trees for the area to be considered a sparse forest with a footpath in the middle. There was a lot less light here since the trees were blocking the sun and providing a great amount of shade. They hiked along in silence, the vegetation growing thicker and the area growing dimmer as they continued on toward the village.

"Look at that," Cecil said as he pointed to a thick clump of trees up ahead, "Looks like it's a real forest now."

"I think that might be the entrance to the village. A traveling merchant I met back in Baron told me that the village of Mist is built in the middle of a forest," Kain replied.

The two soldiers walked along a foot path that headed through this forest. A few minutes later, they found themselves in a bright clearing. When their eyes adjusted, the two warriors found themselves at the entrance to a village. Cecil took off his backpack and pulled out the small package that the king had given him to deliver.

"Now to find the elder, chief, or whoever of this village and get this blasted mission over with," Cecil said just loud enough for Kain to hear him.

As they stepped into the village proper, the wrapping on the small package that Cecil held fell off, revealing a ring of dull red metal. A few villagers had noticed the arrival of the travelers by now, and watched with curiosity at the sight of the magically unwrapping package. Kain reached over and picked up the ring. As he did so, the ring glowed brightly for a few moments before it burst into flames.

A very surprised dragoon dropped the supposed gift for the village, and watched in horror as the fiery ring glowed brighter, and a number of spherical monsters known as 'bombs' emerged from the shining ring. The bombs flew about the village, spreading flames everywhere. Fire fell everywhere, and before long the entire village was engulfed in a blazing inferno. The two warriors gazed in horror at the madness that they had unwittingly brought to this village.

"My god!" Kain said under his breath in shock. 

"...This is it?" Cecil nearly shouted in rage, "This is why he sent us!?!"

"The entire village in flames..." the dragoon said, still amazed and horrified at what the king had ordered them to do.

"WHY?" The dark knight screamed into the raging inferno that was once a village, "Why must _I_ be the one to carry out these missions of senseless slaughter?"

Just then, the two knights heard a muffled cry come from behind a large building.

"Nooo! Mommy!"

The warriors from Baron ran to the source of the sound. Behind the building they found a young girl with green hair crying as she kneeled beside a dead woman. The girl heard the clanking of their armor as they approached and looked up at them. Her gaze was one of pain and shattered innocence.

With a sob the girl choked out, "M...Mom's dragon died, so my mom also..."

The girl couldn't manage to finish, but instead burst into tears anew while she knelt beside her mother among the unforgiving flames.

"What!?!" Cecil muttered, astonished at what he had just heard. The beast they slew the previous day, could that have been...

Kain had the same thought, but spoke it aloud instead of internalizing it, "The summoners... They really exist."

Remorse flooded over Cecil's soul as he realized exactly what he had done.

"Then...her mother died because we slew the dragon," he said while staring at the ground in shame.

Unfortunately, the girl heard all this, and she looked up at the two knights with a look of absolute fury.

"You killed my mom's dragon!?!" the girl shouted at them, furious that people could be so evil.

Cecil didn't quite know how to deal with this, but he managed to stammer out, "W...We didn't know. I'm...I'm sorry."

"So this is the king's wish...to annihilate every summoner in this village," Kain said quietly as he realized what was going on here.

Cecil just looked at him, unable to say anything at all.

"If that's our mission...Then I'm afraid we have to take care of her, too," Kain apologetically told his friend as he drew his lance to bear.

The girl shrank back in fear at these words, cowering in fear for her life on the ground beside her mother. The dark knight, however, finally found his voice again

"WHAT!?" he shouted at his comrade.

"I know, I know. I don't like it either, but it's the king's orders," the dragoon simply said with a shake of his head, "When we became knights, we swore to carry out his orders. It's our duty."

Kain turned toward the child and hefted his spear.

"Kain! She's just a child!"

The dragoon turned again to face his fellow knight, a dark looking falling across his face because of the words just spoken.

"You intend to defy the king?" Kain asked coldly.

Cecil looked at his friend, and rightous furvor filled him.

"I refuse to continue this slaughter in the king's name!" Cecil shouted as he drew his sword, ready to meet Kain in combat should it come to that.

The expression on Kain's face dissolved into what seemed to be amusement.

"Damn..." he said with a smirk as he put away his spear, "I was afraid you'd say that. Well, I exactly can't kill you, so I might as well join you."

"Kain," was the only thing that Cecil managed to say as relief washed over him. He resheathed his sword since it would not be needed to prevent any further slaughter here.

"I owe the king so much," the dragoon said gravely, now realizing what the consquences of his actions would have been, "But I can't disgrace the dragoons. Not on my life."

As he said that, a burning beam fell toward Kain, but he jumped out of the way. Cecil saw this and moved away from anything burning as well. The terrified girl stayed exactly where she was.

"I guess we're both traitors from here on out," Cecil told his friend Kain.

"Opposing the mightiest kingdom in the world..." Kain said as he shook his head, "We'll need allies to survive. We have to rescue Rosa somehow, too."

"Thanks, Kain."

"Save it," the dragoon said gruffly, "I'm not doing it for you."

No one could see it behind his helmet, but Cecil's face fell. His silence said it all, though. It was then that the dragoon realized the situation that they were in.

"We'd better get going. What should we do about that girl?" Kain said, pointing at the young girl.

"We can't leave her," Cecil said before reaching out to the girl, "It's alright. We're not going to hurt you. Come with us, okay?"

"NO!" the girl yelled, pulling away from the dark knight.

"Come _on_!" the dragoon told the two of them, "We have to go _now_!"

"No!" the girl shrieked in absolute terror, "Stay away!!"

"Wait!"

"I hate you! I hate you! You killed my mom!" the girl screamed in utter rage.

The girl pulled further away from them, and a magical aura unlike any that Cecil or Kain had ever seen encompassed her.

"What is that girl _doing_?" Kain shouted incredulously.

The knight in the armor as black as midnight began to respond, but the young girl's magic cut him off. The girl faded out of sight, and a muscular giant appeared in her place. The giant slammed the ground with his immense fist, causing an earthquake that shook the entire village. The flames roared to life as wooden beams and rafters fell into the blaze that still engulfed the village. The giant faded away, and the young girl reappeared. She fell to the ground, and the Dark Knight rushed over to grab her unconscious form. That's when the rumbling began. The two soldiers looked up, and saw rocks falling down from the walls of the Mist Valley, heading in the direction of the village.

"Quickly, Cecil! Back to Baron!" the dragoon shouted to his friend.

Cecil did not appear to hear him, though, and stood rooted in place as he stared in horror at the coming avalanche. Kain knew he had few other options, so he ran over to grab his friend and drag him away from the danger zone. He was too slow, however, and the two warriors found themselves caught in the fury of avalanche at the far end of the village of Mist. As the avalanche dragged them all down the slope of the western end of the Mist Valley, the two men from Baron lost consciousness.

When Kain came to, he found himself in a forest clearing. He slowly picked himself off the ground, and the first thing he noticed was that every part of his body ached. Then he saw the prone forms of the young girl from Mist lying on the ground not too far away from him.

"Ugh..." the knight muttered to himself, "Now what?"

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Post-Chapter Author's Notes:

Yes, I am aware of the potential plot hole of Rydia's mother keeling over a day after her summoned beast was killed. I did this because of my interpretation of the 'summoner-summoned' connection: by killing the summoned monster, a large portion of the summoner's life force is destroyed, but the summoner is not instantly killed from this. Rather, they still live until they deplete the rest of their life force. Assuming that Rydia's mother was a single mom, she would have continued to try to care for her daughter even though she was severely weakened. The following day, she finally collapsed after using up the rest of her life force.

Personally, I thought that the scene of Rydia crying over her mother's dead body was a plot hole in the original game. It seemed like the amount of time it would have taken to travel from the Mist Cave to the village was probably at least several hours walk, and in that amount of time SOMEONE at least would have noticed a dead body in the middle of the village and taken it into house or morgue or something. Of course, the entire game was like that. Relative distances between places were just not taken into account at all. Just think of how long it really would have taken for Cecil to travel from the Mist Valley to Kaipo while carrying Rydia. In the game, it seemed to be less than a day (since she was badly wounded judging by the scene at the inn) and you'll know what I mean.

Anyway, enough of this rant. Reviews would be most appreciated. Work on the next chapter will commence at once, seeing as I'm still suffering from writer's block over the plotline to an original story that I'm trying to write.


	2. Book I, Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IV and the official English (mis)translations of the game belong to Square-Enix, not me. Any original ideas or characters I introduce _do_ belong to me, however.

As most have you have probably already figured out by now, the one event that I'm changing is Cecil and Kain getting separated during the earthquake and resulting landslide in the village of Mist. From here on out, the story's going to start to diverge from the original plot since Kain's now tagging along with Cecil instead of playing the evil henchman to Golbez.

Comments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames will be laughed at.

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_Chapter 2_

"Ugh...where am I?" the Dark Knight muttered as he slowly regained consciousness.

"Good to see that you're awake now," a voice from somewhere said.

"Huh...Kain? Is that you?" Cecil called out.

"Yeah, it's me. Stay put for a little while until you're completely awake. I'll check on the girl."

The dark knight sat up, but didn't otherwise move for another minute or two while he waited for his senses to return. When he could see clearly again, he saw that he was in a grassy clearing. The young girl who had attacked them earlier by summoning a giant was lying on the ground nearby. Kain was kneeling down next to her while he checked for something. Cecil tried to stand up, but his body rebelled against him. All of his muscles ached for some reason.

"Drink a potion like you wanted to after we left the cave two days ago," Kain said as he noticed Cecil trying to stand up, "It probably won't make the pain go away, but it'll at least make it bearable."

"Alright...wait, two days ago?" Cecil said.

"Yeah, two days. We didn't get to Mist until the day after we left the cave, and it was dawn when I woke up following that landslide. That makes at least two days. Anyway, just drink a potion, already. We really need to get going."

Taking the dragoon's advice, Cecil rummaged through a backpack that was lying near him and pulled out a potion. The bottle was chipped, but otherwise intact. He pulled the cork out and gulped downed the nasty tasting medicine. He immediately regretted doing so, and fell into a coughing fit.

"Cecil, when will you learn not to do that?" Kain said while stifling his laughter at his friend's horrible those things cough cough," was the only reply.

"Yeah, well, those of us not in the Red Wings don't always have the luxury of having a white mage on hand," Kain said, "Next time, sip the potion. It's medicine, not beer."

"I'll keep that ," Cecil replied as his coughing fit died down.

"What do we do about the girl?" Kain asked, "We can't just leave her here, but the nearest town is Kaipo."

"That's where we'll take her, then. We can take turns carrying her," the dark knight said in response.

"Are you sure about that, Cecil? Cecil! Come back here! You fool! It's probably a day's journey to Kaipo from here, and across the desert no less!" Kain shouted as his friend picked up the girl and began to walk off.

"Are you coming or not?" a rather annoyed dark knight asked.

"Sure, sure," Kain said as he ran toward Cecil, "Just let me know when you get tired of carrying her...or when you get dehydrated from walking across a desert in pitch black armor."

The two knights walked out into the nearby desert. Though it was foolish to attempt to cross it in the heat of the day, they did so anyway because the girl's life was potentially in danger. They could get a doctor's assistance in the nearby town of Kaipo. For the most part, it was a quiet trip. They were forced to rough up a small band of goblins that had attacked them on the edge of the desert, but that was it so far. Apparently, most of the region's wild beasts and monsters knew better than to move around during the day as well.

"Hey Kain?" Cecil rasped as they plodded along.

"Yeah, what is it?" The dragoon said, "Want to take a turn carrying the girl?"

"No, I wanted to ask if you had anything extra to drink. My most of the water in my canteen spilled out when we got caught in the landslide."

Kain put the girl down for a moment, and opened his backpack. He looked around for a few moments before pulling out a bottle of something. He handed it to Cecil without saying anything, put his backpack back on, picked up the girl once more, and began to walk along. Cecil looked at the bottle for a moment before going for the cork. He stopped himself at the last moment, though, and proceeded to yell at his good friend.

"Kain! When I asked for something to drink, I didn't mean a potion."

Kain stopped again and grinned at his friend before saying, "Sorry. I thought you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that and a beer after last time."

Cecil merely stared at his friend for a few minutes before chuckling.

_'Same old Kain,'_ he thought.

Kain had the decency to take the potion back and give Cecil a small drink out of his canteen. Before long, they were traveling across the burning sands toward Kaipo once more.

  
"The oasis at last," Cecil croaked.

"Yeah, it'll be dark soon, so let's find an inn. We can get out of this burning armor then and find a doctor," the dragoon said as he walked through the stone arch that served as the town of Kaipo's main gate.

"Agreed."

The two rather dehydrated soldiers from Baron marched to the nearby inn. A rather dark skinned middle-aged innkeeper started to greet them, but cut himself off when he noticed the young girl they were carrying. By this time, she was hot and dehydrated as well as unconscious.

"Go ahead and use one of the rooms, I'll call the doctor over," the man told the two knights.

"Thank you," Cecil said before carrying the green haired girl toward one of the beds in the back room.

"We'll pay you for the room when you get back," Kain shouted after the retreating innkeeper.

The two knights walked into the common room of the inn. A good number of beds filled the room, so Cecil and Kain chose three adjoining ones on the far end of the room. Kain immediately set about taking off his burning hot armor. Cecil took the time to put the summoner girl in bed before doing the same.

"Watch the girl, I'll be back in a bit," Kain hurriedly said before heading out with his backpack.

A few minutes later, the dragoon reappeared on the main floor of the inn carrying a rather wet canteen.

"Here you go, Cecil," Kain said as he handed the waterskin to his friend, "I filled up my canteen at the oasis. It's cheaper than whatever they're charging for water in the bar upstairs."

"Thanks, Kain," the dark knight replied before gulping down the precious liquid.

The two sat down on their beds to wait for the innkeeper to return with the village doctor. It wasn't until nearly half an hour later that the innkeeper returned with the doctor in tow.

"Sorry, boys," the innkeeper apologized as the doctor walked over to check the girl's condition, "It took me a while to find him. He was at the house on the northeast side of town, looking after that white wizard that someone found collapsed out on the edge of town earlier."

"No problem," Kain said, "Whoever it is may have needed help more than us."

"Hmm..." the doctor said as he spoke to the two knights for the first time, "She seems to have a light head injury that probably knocked her out to begin with, and she's dehydrated. I'll take care of the head injury and give her some water when she wakes up. You two go and take care of any business you have out on the town for now."

The two knights looked at each other for a moment. Cecil spoke first.

"We may as well get some supplies before the shops close up for the night. We need some more food, at least, and some extra potions would be good since we're traitors now."

"Cecil, not so loud," Kain whispered, "Telling everyone we're traitors is _not_ a good idea."

"Kaipo is Damcyan's territory, not Baron's," Cecil said to this, "But I'll try to watch it in the future. I'm not exactly used to this subversive act yet."

"Ha, you'll learn, Cecil. You'll learn," Kain told his friend with a laugh.

"Yeah. After all, I'm with the king of mischief himself," Cecil replied.

"Hey, I haven't done _anything_ since my promotion!"

And so the two friends joked around and reminisced about old times while going about their errands before the sun set. The two returned to the inn at sunset to see if the girl had woken up yet. Upon walking into the common room, the doctor greeted them with enthusiasm.

"She's up now! I got that head injury treated in no time, and the dehydration wasn't that bad at all. She's awake now, but resting. Such a sweet girl. Oh well, back to looking after that other girl now."

Cecil hurried into the commons room to check on the girl, but Kain remained behind for a moment.

'_Something about that other patient bothers me. Girl...white mage...nah, it couldn't be. She's back at Baron still. No way she could have gotten all the way out here ahead of us...'_

Cecil walked back into the room, snapping Kain out of his reverie.

"What?" the dragoon asked in a manner he hoped wasn't too unpleasant.

"Kain, she won't talk to me..." the dark knight simply said.

"...She _might_ still upset about us killing her mother or burning her village down or something like that," Kain said to his friend, "Although I have _no_ idea why she wouldn't talk to you because of something like _that_!"

"Point taken," Cecil replied, "Still, I feel responsible for her since I did kill her mother and destroy her home."

With that said, the dark knight left for the bedroom. Kain walked into the darkened room behind his friend. The girl was already resting, and Cecil was pulling back the covers on the bed next to the girl's bed. Kain walked over to the girl and whispered a few words before heading to bed himself.

"I'm sorry kid. It's no excuse, but we had no idea what we were doing."

Lying down, he thought he heard Cecil turn to the girl himself and say something, but all he heard was mumbling and garbled words. Just as he was about to nod off, though, he heard the door to the inn open and the sound of footsteps. Thinking that it might be a thief, Kain slowly got up.

"Cecil!" He whispered loudly as he grabbed his spear, "I think we've got company."

Cecil was up in a flash, and one look at his alert face told Kain that his friend was nowhere near falling asleep. Seeing that Kain had his spear ready, Cecil reached over and grabbed his sword from its resting place against the wall. The glow of torches could be seen in the main room. Within a few moments, four soldiers sporting the insignia of the Baronian army walked into the common room. Both Kain and Cecil recognized the leader of the group as a captain from the regular army of Baron, far below the two of them in both rank and skill.

"Sir Cecil and Sir Kain!" the man called out to them in a voice that was too loud, "We've been ordered to bring you back to the castle. You can put down your weapons, we're allies."

"What do you want?" Kain asked the captain in a rather cold tone of voice.

"Like I said, we have orders to verify that your mission in Mist is complete and to bring you back. Now put down your weapons already."

"Fine," Cecil said as he lowered his sword.

Kain saw this and reluctantly followed suit. The captain looked around the room, as though he were looking for something.

"Ah, there's that summoner girl. If you'll set aside, Cecil and Kain, we'll finish things up," the captain said.

"Finish things up?" Cecil asked.

"The fires that the Bomb Ring caused killed all of the summoners in Mist except for two. You killed one of those, the woman who had summoned the Mist Dragon. The other is that girl."

A muffled gasp could be heard coming from the far side of the room. Cecil was about to spout off an eloquent threat, but Kain beat him to the punch with a simple, "Over our dead bodies."

Cecil nodded in agreement with this sentiment, though he would have phrased it differently.

"I wish it didn't come to this, but if you've chosen to disobey the king I have no choice but to kill you as well. Get them, men!"

The other three soldiers rushed in with swords drawn. The beds in the room restricted how they could move, giving Kain the advantage here. He jumped into the air -- though not as high as normal because of the low ceiling -- and came down on one of the guards. His spear buried itself into the man's chest and struck his heart. Cecil drew his sword to ready and attacked one of the other soldiers head on. His dark blade glowed with energy before it struck the soldier on the neck. The blade cleaved through cleanly, and the newly beheaded corpse fell to the ground. The captain and the third guard didn't waste any time, though, and double teamed Cecil. The dark knight managed to dodge the captain's blade, but his left shoulder was sliced open by the third soldier's blade. The dark knight merely grimaced at the pain, and brought his sword around toward his opponent. The Baronian soldier had swung too hard, leaving him unable to parry any blows toward his chest. Cecil noticed this and thrust forward with his blade, piercing the man through the heart.

The captain, seeing that all of his men had fallen to these two knights, turned and ran. Kain pulled his spear out of the soldier's chest and jumped toward the captain, intent on cutting off the man's escape. He was too slow, however, and his spear pierced the floorboards instead of the fleeing Baronian. The captain made good on his escape, and fled into the night to report Cecil and Kain's treachery to his superiors. As Kain pulled himself up off the floor and dislodged his spear from the floorboards, the innkeeper came running down the stairs with a crossbow. He looked at Cecil and Kain with suspicion and leveled his crossbow at the dragoon. Kain merely motioned toward the dead bodies with his spear.

"Sorry about the mess we made," Kain told the innkeeper, "But these soldiers from Baron invaded the inn and tried to kill the girl. We didn't really have a choice."

The innkeeper, realizing that these men had defended themselves against at least three of Baron's soldiers, lowered his crossbow so as not to antagonize them further.

"Ah, we'd better get rid of the bodies before morning. Bad for business, you know. Could you help me carry them outside the city gates?" the innkeeper asked.

"Sure thing," the dragoon replied, "Cecil, you stay here with the girl in case anyone else comes after her."

Cecil nodded. Kain and the innkeeper painstakingly carried the bodies and the decapitated head outside the city gates, where the local wildlife could have them for a snack. While they did so, Kain noticed that Cecil had managed to get the girl to finally talk to him. When he finished carrying out the bodies and washing the gore off, he returned to the inn. He found the girl trying to get back to sleep and Cecil trying to bandage up his shoulder. Kain walked over and tied off the bandage for the dark knight.

"So..." the dragoon began, "What'd she tell you?"

"First of all, I'm going to protect her from now on. She agreed to come along so that I can look after her until this madness is over," Cecil replied, "She claimed to have some skill with black and white magic as well as with summoning. Oh, and her name's Rydia."

Kain let out a low whistle, "Black, white, _and_ summoning, huh? Imagine how useful she could be to the cause if we got her trained..."

"Kain, don't. We're supposed to protect her, remember? Not get her killed."

"Yeah, I know. That doesn't mean we can't train her so she can defend herself, though. She might even be able to help us out from the sidelines with her magic," the dragoon said in his defense.

"...Let's get some sleep. We can talk about it tomorrow," Cecil said before lying back and closing his eyes.

"Yeah..." Kain murmured to himself as he followed suit.

  
The next day, the two knights decided to finish up getting supplies. Their first stop was the sundries store next door to the inn, where they bought Rydia a small backpack, a bedroll, a medical kit, and a few other necessities for travelers. While they were there, they also stocked up on traveling rations and potions and various poison antidotes. Since Baron would soon recognize them as traitors after that incident the other night, it would be wise to be prepared for battles.

The next stop of the day was the clothing and armor shop. Cecil had gone in with Rydia to buy her some sturdy traveling clothes since her dress was a mess after going through the landslide. Kain went in as well, but stayed on the opposite end of the shop, examining the meager selection of body armor in stock. The sound of a child crying shattered the peacefulness of the shop, and Kain turned from his perusal of the armor to see what had happened. On the other side of the shop, Rydia was sitting on the ground in tears as Cecil unsuccessfully attempted to placate her.

"What'd you do this time, Cecil?" Kain said, trying not to laugh at his friend's predicament.

"I just asked her to throw away that ratty old dress now that she's got some proper traveling clothes. And then she burst into tears!" Cecil said, still rather confused about the whole thing.

"Mommy gave me that dress!" Rydia screamed at the two of them from the floor, "I'm not throwing it away."

"Umm...Oops?" Cecil commented rather sheepishly.

Kain, on the other hand, burst into laughter on the spot. This made Rydia rather mad at first, until she realized that he was laughing at Cecil, not her.

"Cecil," the dragoon said when he recovered enough to talk, "You've got a lot to learn about dealing with kids..."

"I don't see you doing any better," Cecil retorted.

"_I'm_ not the one who volunteered to take care of her."

"I wish Rosa were here," Cecil muttered darkly, "She'd know what to do."

"Speaking of which, we'd better get a move on if we want to get her out of Baron."

"One last stop, then we'll head out," Cecil called out as he walked out of the shop with Rydia in tow.

"Head out? Where are we going?" Rydia asked the dark knight.

"Yeah, where _are_ we going, Cecil?" Kain joined in.

"Well, Damcyan's closest, so I figured we could head there to look for allies," the dark knight said, "But first, we need to get Rydia a weapon or something, just in case."

"Sure, sure," the dragoon replied, "I'll head out and look around town while I wait. Maybe I'll see what's up with that white wizard that's ill. After all, another ally would be good to have."

The two knights went their separate ways for now, Cecil taking Rydia to the weapons shop on the far side of town while Kain wandered around. The selection in the weapons shop wasn't the greatest, which made it harder to find an appropriate weapon for a child. Remembering Rosa's personal choice in weaponry, Cecil first had Rydia try out an archery set. Needless to say, he had that one put back after realizing how bad of a shot the young girl was. Then he tried a staff, which turned out to be too heavy for the girl. Finally, he handed her a wizard's rod. It was probably the worst weapon that the shop offered, but it was the right size for a young girl to use. Cecil paid for the rod and was about to leave the shop when Kain stormed in.

"Cecil, come quick," the dragoon said hurriedly.

"What is it Kain? We're ready to leave for Damcyan now," Cecil replied, puzzled at his friend's behavior.

"It's Rosa. Hurry."

Now thoroughly confused, the Dark Knight hurried along behind Kain, dragging Rydia along behind. The three made their way to the north east side of town, where the doctor lived. Kain opened the door to the doctor's house and hurried in. Cecil and Rydia followed close behind. Inside, they discovered what had Kain in such a hurry. The doctor that had helped them with Rydia the night before was working busily on the patient in the bed, trying to keep the woman's fever down. As the doctor moved away after placing a wet cloth on the patient's forehead, Cecil was able to see the face of the woman. It was Rosa, his girlfriend.

"Cecil..." the young woman uttered in her delirium.

"ROSA!" the dark knight cried out.

"Ah, so you know this girl too? What is it with you two knights and sick girls, anyway?" the doctor said as he turned around again, "This one's got the desert fever. I've been taking care of her ever since we found her outside the town a few days ago."

"Will she...be all right?" Cecil hesitantly asked, fearing the answer that might come.

"I actually don't know," the doctor answered, "This is the worst case of desert fever I've seen in a long time, and it's starting to look like I can't cure it."

Cecil's face fell, while Kain merely became silent and gloomy. Rydia, on the other hand, looked at the two grown men in confusion, not quite comprehending the gravity of the situation.

"Of course, if I had a Sand Ruby, things would be different," the doctor continued.

"Sand Ruby?" Cecil asked as hope was once more sparked within him, "Where can we get one of those?"

"The Antlion's Nest. Problem is, you need the King of Damcyan's permission to go there ever since that 'Endangered Species Law' was passed a couple of years ago."

"Yet another reason to go to Damcyan," Kain said thoughtfully.

"We're going. Now," Cecil ordered as he stormed out of the house.

"Come on, Rydia. Let's go," Kain said to the young girl who was still rather confused about Cecil's behavior, "There's no stopping him when he gets like this."

"Why?" the girl asked.

"Well, that's just the way Cecil acts when something he cares about is in danger," the dragoon responded, "And he cares about Rosa most of all..."

The young girl nodded, and followed the dragoon out.

"To Damcyan we go, then..." Kain muttered as he followed the resolute Cecil out of the oasis village.


	3. Book I, Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IV and the official English (mis)translations of the game belong to Square-Enix, not me. Any original ideas or characters I introduce _do_ belong to me, however.

Please let me know if you think that young Rydia is out of character in this chapter. I'm not entirely sure how that girl should act since the few scenes of her from the game were rather...erratic as far as her behavior goes.

As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames will be laughed at.

* * *

_Chapter 3_

"Cecil," Kain said as they came to the end of the desert around Kaipo, "Remind me to never take a vacation to Damcyan again."

"No problem," his friend said, "Just remember to keep that traveling cloak in case we ever have to come back here on a mission."

"Speaking of which, you never told me where you got those. When you headed off into the desert again, I thought that we'd die from the heat."

Cecil opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a quiet voice coming from behind the two knights.

"He bought those white things while I got new clothes," Rydia told Kain.

"Umm...right," Kain said hurriedly before whispering to Cecil, _"This feels weird. It's like having a kid tagging along during a mission."_

Cecil either didn't hear or chose to ignore Kain's observation.

"Alright, we should find the underpass to Damcyan around here somewhere. Keep close since there'll probably be more monsters around now that we're not in the desert," Cecil said to his two companions.

"Right," Kain grunted.

"Okay," Rydia said.

The three travelers continued their journey, this time across the plain that stretched out from the edge of the South Damcyan Desert to the mountain range that separated the two desert regions that composed the territory of the Kingdom of Damcyan. As they approached the mountains, the near-wasteland with but a few patches of grass that they had seen on the edge of the desert gradually transformed into an emerald plain. There were now real trees to provide shade from the unrelenting sun, and the few cacti from the desert were now but a distant memory. It was Rydia who commented on this phenomenon first.

"There's more plants now. And none of them are covered in needles," the young girl said out of the blue.

"That's probably because there's water out here," the dragoon said before a sudden thought hit him, "I just hope this cave we're trying to find isn't flooded."

"Why would it be flooded?" asked the nearby dark knight.

"Well, it's green out here, but there's no river in sight. That means that the river must be underground," Kain replied.

"Hmm...we'll see when we get there, I suppose," Cecil said, concluding the conversation.

A half hour later, the group finally found the cave that they were looking for. It wasn't quite what they were expecting, though. Instead of being a large cave with a wide mouth for caravans to get through, the cave had an opening about five and a half feet high and three feet across. The faint sound of flowing water could be heard coming from within, though little could actually be seen from the outside due to the darkened interior.

"Looks like we're going to need torches," Cecil said.

"Yeah. Don't suppose you got one for the kid back in Kaipo, though?" Kain asked as he started preparing his own.

Before Cecil could answer, though, Kain heard a whimper coming from somewhere. Looking down, he found Rydia staring up at them with terror filled eyes.

"Torches?" she squeaked.

"Yeah, torches. You know, light a stick on fire?" Kain replied.

"Fire!?" the girl said, her voice falling to a near whisper before crying out, "No! I don't want to go in there!"

"Eh?" Cecil said, looking at the panicking child in puzzlement, "Why not?"

"I HATE FIRE!!!" the young girl screamed at the two puzzled knights.

"Hate...fire...?" Kain said.

"Of course!" Cecil exclaimed as he had an epiphany, "Her village burned down right in front of her eyes. Of course she'd hate fire!"

Rydia's only reply to this was a faint whimper as memories of her hometown in flames flashed before her eyes.

"But we need torches to see in there!" Kain protested, "Wait, unless..."

Kain walked over to the young girl who was now sitting on the ground hugging her knees, and kneeled down in front of her.

"Rydia," he said in a voice that he hoped wasn't too gruff, "We don't need the torches if you can cast a spell to make light for us."

The young girl's eyes grew to the size of saucers, and she wordlessly nodded her head before closing her eyes and concentrating on something.

"Light!" she cried out, and a sphere of radiant white light appeared above her, illuminating the entire area.

Rydia looked over at the two knights and said with a strange combination of hope and pleading, "We don't need torches now, right? No fire?"

"Um...that's right, no fire," Kain said.

"Yay!" the summoner girl squealed with far too much excitement.

"Right..." Cecil said, obviously disturbed by girl's mood swing, "Let's get going then."

The three travelers stepped into the cave, and found themselves confronted by a rather spectacular sight. The interior of the cavern was immense. The ceiling of the cave was ten feet above them, and covered in stalactites. Rushing water flowed far beneath them. Looking over the edge of the ledge, Kain saw that the underground river was at least ten feet below them. Looking around, he saw that the road that they would most likely have to take was a series of ledges between the walls of the cave and the steep drop into the waters below. The two knights of Baron and the young summoner carefully walked along these ledges, proceeding further into the cavern that would eventually bring them to Damcyan.

All too soon, however, they found their path blocked. The barrier was not a cave in or a steep drop off, but rather an old man standing in the middle of the path they were taking. He wore some faded green robes that were fashionable for wizards about thirty years ago, and was leaning on a long wooden staff like the ones white wizards carried. A thick pair of spectacles and the thick white hair and beard topped off the costume, giving the codger the appearance of a magically-trained Rip Van Winkle.

"Excuse me..." Cecil began to say to the old man.

The old man, hearing this noise, turned around and examined the three newcomers. The first thing he noticed was the full sets of armor that Cecil and Kain wore. Then he noticed their choice of weaponry.

"Those weapons you carry...a dark sword and a lance? Could it be? A dark knight and a dragoon!? Please, good knights, I need your assistance!" the man said to Cecil and Kain.

"What's wrong?" Cecil asked the old man.

"I must get to Damcyan at once. A wicked bard came to my village, seduced my daughter and took her away with him to the castle! I must hurry and reclaim her! To make matters worse, I've been sensing evil omens as of late, and by the time I get there it could already be too late!" the old man said, gradually falling into hysteria as he told them of his plight.

_'I've heard this story,'_ Kain thought, _'But where...? That's it!'_

"You must be Tellah the Sage!" Kain said as he connected the old man's story to the sad tale of Tellah that he had heard in Kaipo.

"Indeed I am, Sir Dragoon," the sage replied.

At about this time, Rydia slowly crept out from behind Cecil. She looked up at the strange codger fearfully at first, but then relaxed as she realized that the overexcited old man meant them no harm. As she relaxed, the ball of light that she had conjured caught Tellah's eye.

"That girl! Is she a white wizard in training?" Tellah said to himself as he cast a spell to analyze Rydia's magical abilities, "No, wait...a summoner! Perfect! You can all help me out, it seems. A giant monster recently appeared in the underground lake ahead of here, and it seems to resist even my magic. But with a dark knight, a dragoon, and a summoner, I think we might just be able to take it down. Then I can get to Damcyan, flay that evil minstrel, and rescue my daughter!"

_"Umm...Cecil, do you think it's **really** a good idea to help this lunatic?"_ Kain whispered to the dark knight standing beside him.

_"I don't know,"_ Cecil whispered back, _"But we need to go that way too. Might as well get his help in taking down that monster."_

Turning to Sage Tellah, Cecil said, "We're headed to Damcyan as well. Why don't you join us until then?"

"Absolutely," the sage answered.

"Very well," the dark knight answered, "My name is Cecil. The dragoon is Kain, and the little girl is Rydia."

"I'm Tellah, as you already know. Honored to make your acquaintance," the sage said, "Now let's go. Quickly, before the future evil I'm sensing comes to pass."

The group moved on. Cecil and Kain took the lead, watching for anything that might attack them, while Tellah and Rydia took the rear. As they walked along, Tellah took the time to teach Rydia a few of the spells that he still remembered, including a spell that conjured lightning. As they crawled deeper into the cavern they disturbed more and more creatures. The bats that they were constantly running into were the least of their worries. These would merely startle little Rydia and fly off to hide somewhere else. The _other_ things, however, were much worse.

Somehow, a wide variety of aquatic monsters had come to live in this tunnel, and the group seemed to be getting ambushed by hungry creatures at every turn. Most of these..._things_...were easily dispatched by a simple lightning spell from Tellah or Rydia. The two knights concentrated mostly on keeping the monsters away from the two wizards either by attracting the monsters' attention or by acting as human shields.

As they continued through the cave, they also found that about every twenty minutes or so the light spell would extinguish, delaying the group's progress as they stopped to wait for either Tellah or Rydia to cast a new light spell. Occasionally, some monsters would attack them as the light went out, but a light source of some kind was usually available rather soon - whether it was a fire spell from Tellah or Cecil releasing a wave of life energy in the general direction of the monsters. After what felt like hours of walking through these never-ending tunnels, the travelers found themselves in a very odd room.

This place was accessible from the tunnels only through an opening at either end of the room. In the center of the room, a stone slab with strange symbols was embedded into the floor. Eight posts engraved with more runes were arranged in a circle around this slab. Cecil and Kain, neither of whom were particularly adept with magic, looked at the odd room with confusion. Young Rydia didn't know what it was either. The sage in their midst, however, knew exactly what it was due to the journeys he had taken earlier in his lifetime. He walked into the middle of the room without fear, and then beckoned the others to follow.

"We can rest here. These stones create a magical field which repels monsters and other evil entities, so we should be safe here," the old man said.

"Riiight..." Kain said to this, "There just _happens_ to be a magical field that keeps monsters away in the middle of a cave."

"Young man," Tellah said with a snort, "I don't know what you're trying to insinuate, but what I said is true. Rooms containing fields like this are constructed all the time in caves that are frequently traveled to keep travelers safe. They're even added to almost all buildings outside the walls of a city to keep the workmen safe from marauding monsters. Besides, I built this field _myself _in my younger years."

"I'll take your word for it," Kain said dryly, not saying more since he didn't want to anger the old man further. After all, he had seen the codger fry quite a few monsters by casting random spells that he barely remembered the procedure for.

"Alright, we'll rest here for the night and hopefully make it to Damcyan sometime tomorrow," Cecil said quickly, trying to defuse any potential arguments that could arise between the old wizard and the dragoon.

While the dragoon and the dark knight worked at setting up camp for the night, the old sage worked on starting a campfire on top of the stone slab in the center of the room. Rydia helped out Cecil and Kain, mainly because she didn't want to get too close to the flame. The two knights pulled out bedrolls, took of their armor, and set about cleaning up before bed. Rydia imitated the two adults and worked on getting ready for bed herself, though Cecil had to help her with things a few times. When the fire was finally started, Kain took a little from everyone's rations and cooked up a stew. Food seemed to appease the sage, who was still a bit grumpy from Kain's earlier comments. After dinner, Cecil put Rydia to bed while the adults stayed up a bit later to talk.

"Fast asleep," the sage said, looking at the young girl, "She must have been exhausted. Poor girl. Where's her home?"

"Mist Village," Kain replied.

"She seems very gifted," the old man told the two, "With proper training she could probably master any branch of magic she wanted. She reminds me so much of Anna when she was young..."

"Anna," Cecil said, pausing briefly to think, "She's your daughter, correct?"

"Yes," the old man said with a sad sigh, "She eloped with a bard who lives at Castle Damcyan because I refused to allow them to marry. Why are you three heading to Damcyan?"

"A friend of ours has a bad case of desert fever," Cecil told the sage, "The girl is with us because Kain and I are serving as her guardians for now. Her village...burned down...mother died..."

"I see," said Tellah as Cecil's voice trailed off, "You are honorable gentlemen indeed to be taking care of a young girl who was orphaned like that."

"Ah, yes...tell us about this monster that we're going to fight tomorrow," Cecil said, trying to change the subject so that he wouldn't have to think about the crimes he was made to commit in the name of duty to the king.

"It's a vicious beast that lives in the water. It has eight enormous tentacles and is resistant to all magic except for lightning," Tellah said before sighing and continuing, "I just hope we can kill it and get to Damcyan in time. I'm sensing a tremendous evil approaching in the near future, and I fear for my daughter..."

"I'm sure we can do it," Kain told the two, speaking up for the first time since making those snide remarks earlier, "But we'll need to be well rested in order to do it. Let's get to bed now."

"Agreed," Cecil and Tellah replied before heading to sleep themselves.

  
The next morning, the group of four set out early, hoping to make good enough time to reach Damcyan before nightfall. As they journeyed further into the caves, they found monsters that were not aquatic in nature. These were more readily disposed of by Cecil and Kain for the most part, though the undead were mostly unaffected by Cecil's dark sword. About two hours after breaking camp, they came across the exit to the tunnel.

"Ah, I never thought I'd be so happy to see the sun again!" Kain exclaimed as they left the tunnel.

"I know what you mean. Especially after the desert," Cecil said.

"Don't get your hopes too high," Tellah told them, putting a damper on their newly found good moods, "This is just a small valley in the mountains. We go into another cave from here, the one with an underground lake at the bottom."

The group continued onward, and found the next cave after ten minutes walk. Into the second cave they went, and to their surprise it had even more water in it than the one they were just in. Just inside the entrance to this second cave they found something like an immense waterfall. Before them was a large slope that the ever-present water flowed down to reach the lake below. In the center of this slope was a partially submerged staircase that led down to the lake. Tellah stepped forward and pointed at the staircase.

"We go down the steps here. At the bottom is the lake where the monster I told you about lives," the sage told the group.

"Looks steep and slippery," Cecil said, "I'll head down first and carry Rydia. Tellah, you follow me. Kain, bring up the rear and make sure Tellah doesn't hurt himself on the stairs."

"Just what do you mean by that, young man?" a now irate sage snapped at the dark knight.

Cecil ignored this comment. Carefully picking up Rydia, the dark knight slowly descended the stairs, taking care not to slip. A few steps was all it took, however, and down he went. As he fell, the knight held a shrieking Rydia tightly and braced his body for the coming impact. With a large splash, the lake broke the dark knight's fall. He slowly got up in the relatively shallow water, and examined Rydia to make sure she wasn't hurt. A few seconds later, he heard two more splashes behind him. Tellah and Kain had arrived.

"Anyone hurt?" Cecil asked the group.

"I've had worse in my years," Tellah replied.

"Just sore," the dragoon told them.

"I'm okay," the young girl told Cecil.

"Got it. If anyone feels hurt later, I'm sure Tellah or Rydia can use a healing spell to help."

The travelers made their way to the shore of the lake as quickly as they could and dried off before continuing on into the cavern. Kain wandered off to scout out the area, but returned before long with a strange look on his face.

"Cecil," he began, "There's something over here I think you should see."

The dark knight excused himself and followed Kain along the shore of the lake. A short while later, Kain and Cecil stumbled across a skeleton with a suit of dark grey armor off of it. A shredded tunic with the twin insignias of the Royal Guard of Baron and the Order of the Dark Knights on it could be seen under the armor.

"This armor, and this sword..." Cecil said with a great deal of sadness in his voice, "So this is what happened to Captain Bain..."

"Yeah, the man who trained us when we were still recruits," said Kain, "The ghouls must have got him."

"I think some of this armor is salvageable, and the sword appears to be in good condition..." Cecil's mumbled while looking over the skeleton.

"Cecil! What are you thinking!?" Kain shouted at his friend, "Taking the armor is like desecrating his grave or something!"

"I know," the dark knight told Kain, "But the two of us are at war with Baron now, and we need all the help we can get. This equipment is better made than what I have, and it might just give us an edge."

"Fine, do whatever you want," the dragoon grumbled before returning to the others.

When Cecil returned, he was wearing a new set of gauntlets, and bore a new sword and shield. The old sage and Rydia looked at him in surprise. Kain was surprised for another reason.

"Cecil, why didn't you take the helmet and armor as well?" the dragoon asked.

"Couldn't get it off. Besides, it just didn't feel right..." Cecil answered, "Anyway, let's get going."

This cave was larger than the last one, seeing as it had an underground lake inside, but took less time to navigate since they were following the shoreline. After an hour of walking around the vast body of water, they came across a waterfall on the wall of the cave.

_"There it is," _Tellah whispered to his fellow travelers, _"The monster lives at the base of that waterfall. Be ready."_

The group walked into the water toward the waterfall, staying in the shallows and making as little noise as they could. No sooner did they approach the waterfall, however, when a massive beast that vaguely resembling a giant octopus struck at Cecil from behind with its tentacles.

"There it is!" Tellah shouted, "The Octomammoth! Let's kill it!"

The knights sprang into action. Cecil charged in and attacked the beast head-on, channeling a small amount of his life force into the blade of his sword and releasing these localized waves of energy just before his sword would strike the body of the monster. Kain, on the other hand, took to the air, attempting to stab the monster from above while it concentrated on Cecil. Tellah and Rydia both stayed back, just out of the tentacles' reach, and prepared their spells.

"Let's see...how did that spell go..." Tellah muttered as he tried desperately to remember a certain spell.

"Chocobo!" Rydia called out after channeling her magic into the summon.

A yellow bird that was as tall as a man materialized in front of the little girl and looked at her for a moment, awaiting orders.

"Hurt that meanie!" Rydia told the bird, pointing at the Octomammoth.

"Wark!" The bird squawked before running over and kicking the beast repeatedly and pecking at its eyes.

"Yes, I suppose that would work," the sage said as he watched the display of summoning magic, "But so would...this!"

A cloud of poison gas engulfed the monster as well as Cecil who happened to be standing a tad too close. When the spell cleared away, the beast was just where it was before, apparently unhurt. Cecil, on the other hand, was coughing heavily as he tried to expel the mild poison from his lungs.

"Whoops," Tellah whispered to himself as he tossed Cecil an antidote for that particular magical poison, "Wrong spell."

Cecil and Kain continued to hack at the monster. They were getting pummeled by the tentacles, but were also giving back as well as they took the hits. Kain had managed to skewer one of the monster's eyes, which served to slow it down nicely and mess up its aim. Cecil, on the other hand, was pouring a tiny amount of life force into each swing of his blade, allowing it to cut through the tentacles with ease.

"It's working," Cecil yelled as he cut through yet another tentacle.

"I know, almost done!" Kain called back.

Then, to the dread of the two knights, a loud voice called out "I remember now! Thundaga!"

Large bolts of lightning rained down, striking the monster as well as anything close to it. Cecil and Kain managed to get out of range without getting hit too many times, but the monster was not so lucky. Bolt after bolt of heavenly rage struck the beast, frying it. As the spell dissipated, all that could be seen was the charred body of what was once a horrible monster. Kain was the first to speak after the initial shock wore off.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" the enraged dragoon roared at Tellah.

"No need to get mad, young man, just taking care of the monster," the overly calm sage replied.

"It was almost dead, though, and you almost killed Cecil and I in the process!"

"It worked, though, didn't it?" came the retort.

"Haven't you ever heard of _overkill_!?" a still furious Kain shouted.

"Erm...Let's get going everyone," Cecil said, breaking up the argument, "Got to get to Damcyan and all."

"Quite right," the sage replied, "Let's go."

Tellah walked through the waterfall and disappeared. The other three watched his exit before following him. Behind the waterfall was a short tunnel just large for a man to stand in. Beyond this was the exit.

As the group exited the cave and stepped out onto the grassy plain, they were again relieved to see the sun and feel its warmth. Looking around, Cecil realized that they had gotten out of that cavern in fairly good condition considering all the monsters that had attacked them along the way. He was about to suggest that they head for Damcyan when he caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye. Turning to see what was there, the dark knight was soon gaping in horror at the sight of three magnificent red airships flying their way.

"Everyone hide! The Red Wings are here after us!" Cecil shouted to his companions.

"Just why is Baron's air force after you people?" Tellah yelled back.

"No wait, Cecil, look. They're heading away from us now," Kain told Cecil as he pointed at the sky, trying to calm his friend.

"But what's in that direc..." Cecil said before was cut off by a hysterical sage.

"Damcyan!" the old man screamed.

As he said that, the report of several explosions was heard in the distance, from the direction that Damcyan Castle should lay. Horror filled the faces of Cecil, Kain and Tellah. Rydia merely screamed in terror at the explosions. Just one word was heard then, hanging in the air for what seemed to be all eternity.

"ANNA!!!"


	4. Side Story: Requiem

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IV and the official English (mis)translations of the game belong to Square-Enix, so there's no need for them to cast "Lawyers of the Round" on me. Any original ideas or characters I introduce _do_ belong to me, however.

**Warning: Rant Ahead**

The problem with the USB Flash Drive is now basically solved. Moral of the story: mounting storage devices via USB under Linux can potentially be a pain.

Now then, regarding making story updates consistent: at the moment, I'm aiming to move to weekly updates of this story, probably on a Thursday or Friday. This schedule will get a bit messed up here and there in December and January since I'm going to be moving to another state and taking some vacation time to see my family, but I'll make sure to take the time to update when I have internet access. Since my muse is rather chaotic and likes to swing back and forth between taking luxurious vacations and pushing me to work like a slave for hours on end, I'll also be taking the step of attempting to keep at least one extra completed chapter or side story in reserve to post in the event that I didn't get anything written that week. Currently, I've got two chapters in reserve, and I hope to add more to this collection as time permits.

Now, then. I'm taking a slight break from the main plot (as the chapter title may imply) to tell a short story about the attack on Damcyan. To be honest, this story was not planned in the original outline, the inspiration for it simply struck me one day, and it blends in quite nicely with where the events of chapter three end. While writing this, I decided to play around with telling a story from two different perspectives. I apologize in advance if this gets a bit confusing. Just keep in mind that the " " indicates a scene change and potentially a change in the point of view. Now then, enough of this ranting. On with the story!

As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames will be laughed at.

* * *

_Side Story: Requiem_

"What do you mean, 'I'm leaving'?"

"Dear," Anna replied to her lover, Edward, "You know I love you, but...I need my father's blessing before I marry. I'm sorry but, I need to go back to Kaipo now."

"But what about running off together and eloping?" Edward asked her, "I did everything I could to make sure that's what you wanted before we left Kaipo in the first place."

"Yes, well...I was still angry at my father that night for refusing to give me permission to marry. I wasn't exactly thinking clearly. I'm sorry," Anna said.

"So, that's it?" Edward asked angrily, "You just give up on us being together because that psychotic old man you call your father is too biased against me to allow us to marry?"

"Edward, it's not like that," Anna replied through fresh tears, "I just need more time to convince him. I just...need more time."

  
"Sir Golbez, we're thirty kilometers from Damcyan."

A rather tall man in a set of striking blue armor, a cruel-looking horned helmet that concealed his face and a long blue cape turned to the soldier who had addressed him and stared. He held up his hand, and a small burst of fire appeared in it, cracking and writhing in the all-encompassing wind.

"You interrupted my studies for _that_?" Golbez said in a cold voice.

"F...forgive me, Sir Golbez. I was told by the pilot that you wanted updates on our position every half hour," the Baronian soldier said with downcast eyes.

"I requested updates every _hour_, not half hour. Tell the pilot that if he does follow my instructions properly in the future he will find himself wishing he were one of the mages that were captured in Mysidia."

"Y...y...yes sir!" the soldier stuttered before scampering off.

"Soon. Soon, Master Zemus, we will possess another of the crystals. Your return is at hand," the blue armored man whispered to the sky.

  
"Soon."

"Is that _all_ you're going to tell me?" prince of Damcyan whined to his beloved.

"I'm sorry, Edward," the young woman said, "But if I gave you a more specific answer, you'd do everything in your power to prevent me from leaving."

"Please, Anna, don't go."

"I'm sorry, but I must. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I married you without my father's blessing."

  
On one of the walls of Damcyan's castle, a lone soldier sat watching the shifting sands of the desert before him. He was on guard duty, the most dreaded of assignments due to the sheer boredom involved, and he briefly entertained the thought of taking a nap for an hour. After all, no one had attacked Damcyan in years. As he looked up into the sky to watch the clouds go by, the soldier began to doze off. A few moments later, three red dots appeared on the horizon. Three red harbingers of doom, forewarning the arrival of the blood-stained air force known as the Red Wings of Baron.

  
The prince paced nervously in his room, waiting for a servant to arrive and inform him that Lady Anna had left. An hour ago, she had shut herself into the guest room that all her belongings were in. The reason given to everyone that she was packing in order to go home. This fact caused quite a stir in the royal court. After all, it's not every day that the prince brings his bride home only to have her leave again three days before the planned wedding. This entire incident had caused Prince Edward no end of shame, even his parents had dropped in on him to ask what he had done to offend the woman he intended to take as wife.

"Your majesty," a voice said from behind a wooden door, "May I enter?"

"Of course," came the prince's gruff reply.

The door opened, and a servant walked into the room. This particular servant was most likely one of his parents' personal aides, for the man wore fine clothes that were fitting for a councilor of the kingdom. The servant bore no letters or trays of food. Rather, he stood just inside the doorway with his arms at his side.

"What is it?" an annoyed Prince Edward asked.

"The Lady Anna bid me tell you that she desired to see you one last time before she left. She waits in the throne room," the servant said all too formally.

"Thank you, you may leave now."

  
"Release bombs!" the warlock known as Golbez cried out.

Ten crew members on the ship that Golbez personally commanded opened the hatches that they were responsible for, releasing a payload of explosives on the unwitting denizens of the castle below. Another crew member used a set of flags to communicate the orders to the other two ships that were taking part in this expedition. Down fell bomb after bomb on the Castle of Damcyan. Upon impact, the entire castle shook under the assault of the world's mightiest air force. From Golbez's perspective, the soldiers that rushed around on the ground below to defend their castle seemed to be nothing more than ants struggling to defend their hive from a human. They might be able to sting him a little, but never would they be able to cause serious injury.

"Archers at ready!" Golbez shouted to his men.

Again, the members of the airship's crew moved into position with military precision while the other ships were informed of the orders through signals. At least fifty bows on each ship were held at ready with arrows notched.

"Descend to firing distance!"

The pilots of the airships descended to a sufficient level for the archers on board the airships to properly aim at their opponents on the ground below. Tension filled the air as the archers awaited further orders.

"FIRE!!!"

  
The halls of the castle of the great kingdom of Damcyan had been transformed into a vision of the underworld. Flames burned everywhere, and the ground was covered with the rubble of collapsed roofs and walls. Members of the court lay on the ground, some shrieking in agony. Soldiers had overrun the hall by now, and a large contingent was assigned to protecting the royal family at all costs, including the bride-to-be of Prince Edward. The king stood in the midst of the chaos, giving orders and directing the soldiers in the defenses to prepare. As they moved into place, the king picked up his lute and began to demonstrate the true strength of the royal family of Damcyan. He played a song. The notes of the Anthem of Damcyan drifted through the halls, encouraging the spirits of soldiers, bringing to mind the purpose for which they would fight this day: the protection of their homeland and loved ones.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Uncountable numbers of troops wearing the traditional armor of Baron's standing army rushed into the room, weapons drawn. The sword-wielding soldiers advanced on their counterparts from Damcyan, almost causing the ones guarding the royal family to break ranks. The troops from the army of Damcyan engaged their opponents, and the notes of the king's lute were drowned in the clashing of steel and the cries of the dying.

A hand in a blue gauntlet rose above the heads of the Baronian troops, and then fell with incredible speed. At once, the air was filled with arrows. Darts of death flew every which way, piercing the bodies of the defenders of the king. For a moment, the air was still, but then a second volley of arrows filled the air.

Prince Edward looked on in horror as arrows pierced his guardians, causing them to fall to the ground and into the sleep of death. He staggered back, frantically searching for a place to hide from the archers. All that was around him, however, was the bodies of the slain. The pillars were too far away to hide behind. The prince braced himself for his imminent demise.

The next series of events happened too quickly for Edward to understand at the time. The archers drew their bows back a third time. A woman's voice screaming, "Edward!" was heard from somewhere to the right of him. The bowmen released their arrows once more. A volley of arrows flew through the air to rain down upon the helpless prince. The blurred form of a woman flew through the air toward the prince as well. Edward was pushed down and fell to the floor. Just before he collided with the stone surface below he heard the sickening **thunks** of several arrows piercing a person's flesh. Then his head cracked against the floor, and all went dark.

  
When Prince Edward regained consciousness, he found himself pinned to the floor by a dead body. He began to push the body off of him in order to stand up, but then he heard voices nearby.

"Have all the guards been dealt with?" A muffled voice asked.

"Yes, Sir Golbez. The way to the Crystal of Fire is all clear," another voice answered.

"Very good," the muffled voice said, "Return to the ships and prepare for lift off upon my return."

"Yes, Sir!" the second voice said.

The sound of footsteps trailing into the distance was heard. Deafening silence filled the room, broken a few seconds later by a second set of footsteps. This time, the footsteps were headed in Edward's direction. The prince's breathing quickened and his mind was filled with fear. The footsteps continued to approach him, and the figure creating the sound stopped almost right in front of him.

"What a foolish girl," the muffled voice said quietly enough that Edward could barely hear it, "Sacrificing her own life for worthless royalty that died anyway."

The footsteps were again heard, this time moving away from Edward, but toward the chamber where the crystal was. Edward continued to wait in silence, knowing that if he got up now, he would most certainly be killed by these pillagers from Baron. Five minutes later, the hall was flooded with the chaotic sound of men running across the stone floor. A few moments later, a single set of footsteps was heard walking slowly down the stairs from the Crystal Chamber.

"Such beauty, such perfection," the muffled voice once again could be heard saying, "And it is mine. The Crystal of Fire is mine!"

The footsteps trailed off into the distance. Ten minutes later, the roaring of airships' propellers filled the air before diminishing and trailing off. Silence reigned for a few more minutes before Edward began to get up. He pushed off the body that was pinning him down and looked around the room. The bodies of the dead and dying lay everywhere. A few feet away from him lay the bodies of his parents, their faces frozen into masks of death.

"Mother...father..." Edward said softly.

Tears fell from his face. True horror of what had happened was only now washing over him. He looked down to see who had sacrificed his life for his, and drew in a startled gasp as he recognized the body that now lay at his feet. It was the body of his beloved, Anna.

"Anna! Anna!" the Prince cried out into the silent castle.

His tears became a flood that washed over his face and began to cleanse the bloodied floor beneath him. He continued to weep for all those who died as he knelt by the side of the woman he loved, both in life and in death. When his tears finally dried up, Edward did the only thing he knew to do in this situation. The prince walked over to the body of his father and picked up the lute that had played the Anthem of Damcyan earlier.

Edward leaned back against one of the walls, and began to play the melody that the events of the day caused to echo within his soul. The prince played a song, a requiem, for his loved ones who had died today. He played for the soldiers who had fallen while valiantly defending their homeland. He played for the women and children who were brutally slain when bloodlust had overtaken the minds of the soldiers from Baron.

He played a requiem for Damcyan.

* * *

**Comments to Reviewers**

First of all, thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far. All your feedback _is_ appreciated, especially after the experience of having a longish story (35000 words or so) I posted on under a different pen name receive somewhere around ZERO reviews. I've been a tad behind on keeping up on reviews, so I apologize for not thanking you all earlier.

Reddo Meijisu: Thanks for the comments regarding my use of dialogue. I'm actually using this story as an experiment in writing dialogue decently and using it to propel the story, so your feedback is especially appreciated. Oh, and nice pen name. Elsewhere on the Net, I tend to go by the nickname RedMage myself, though that's because it's a nickname my college buddies bestowed upon me.

TobyKikami: Interesting that you saw the foreshadowing regarding Rosa. To be honest, though, it was added unintentionally/subconsciously.

The Chaotic Ones: I can see where your take on Rydia comes from. I was always of the opinion that she was always a tad extroverted, but her mother's death and annihilation of her village caused her to become introverted for a while. Baron's soldiers coming to kill her didn't help either.


	5. Book I, Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IV and the official English (mis)translations of the game belong to Square-Enix, not me. Any original ideas or characters I introduce _do_ belong to me, however.

Sorry about the late update. As you probably already know, this was due to the site being in read-only status for about the last week. 

As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames will be laughed at.

* * *

_Chapter 4_

"ANNA!"

The face of Tellah the Sage was contorted in an odd mixture of anger and worry. His three companions, the two knights and the young girl, watched him with worry, not quite sure what he would do in response to this latest event.

"We are going to the castle. Now!" the sage almost barked at his traveling companions.

The four travelers hurried to Castle Damcyan as quickly as they could. Unfortunately, turned out to still too slow. After ten minutes of running, the group slowed down as they realized that they were still a long ways off from the castle. In the distance, the outline of the desert castle could be seen, as well as a faint trail of smoke rising from the edifice.

"Can't the girl summon us some chocobos to ride?" Tellah asked Cecil gruffly as they walked across the North Damcyan Desert.

Rydia, hearing this comment, answered, "Umm...I can summon _one_...but I need to stay with the chocobo and make sure it doesn't get hurt."

"Why?" the sage questioned.

"If the summoned creature dies, then the summoner will...die...as well," Cecil informed Tellah.

"Alright, then let's have Rydia summon a chocobo and I'll ride with her to the castle!" Tellah said.

Rydia stopped in her tracks and began a summoning, but ceased when Cecil put his armored hand on her shoulder.

"No," he said, "I need to be with her to take care of her. The castle was just attacked, which means that there might still be soldiers from Baron there. They already tried to kill her once, so I'm staying with her to protect her."

Kain spoke up, saying, "I agree. If we stick together, we have a better chance of surviving if there's a battle going on."

"But, but...Anna," the sage said as he began panicking again, "My daughter's in that burning castle!"

"Then let's hurry up and get there," Cecil told the man, "If you know any spells that could help speed our journey, please feel free to cast them. Otherwise, we'd better start walking again."

"Alright, fine," Tellah said, "I'll try to remember a spell that might help while we walk then."

Onward they walked, quickening their pace at times, slowing it at others. An hour after Tellah stopped to ask about chocobos, three red shapes could be seen rising from behind the castle. These shapes reformed themselves into airships as they grew closer, airships known and feared around the world as the Red Wings of Baron.

"Don't move," Cecil ordered the others.

The travelers stopped in their tracks as the Red Wings flew by overhead. Cecil and Kain held their breath, while Tellah restrained himself from trying to fire off a spell at the retreating sky-vessels. When the airships disappeared over the mountains to the south, a collective sigh of relief was heard from the small group of travelers.

"Come on," Cecil shouted before taking off running in the direction of the castle, "We don't have any more time to lose. Standard procedure states that the Red Wings are only to leave once all resistance has been...suppressed. All that's left now should be the dead, the wounded, and anyone who hid during the attack."

"How do you know _that_?" Tellah yelled as he ran along behind Cecil.

"Because I was once their captain!" Cecil yelled back.

"_What?_"

"Less talking, more running," Kain told the two of them.

The dragoon came up from behind them riding on a chocobo. The young summoner sat in front of him on the bird's back as they rode bare back across the golden sands.

"Why do you get to ride the chocobo? I'm the one who needs it!" Tellah yelled at the dragoon.

"I'm the one who stayed behind to help Rydia," came the response, "If you start getting tired, either ask her to cast a healing spell on you or drink a potion."

The group of four ran off across the desert sand toward the castle of the land of Damcyan. Kain and Rydia rode atop the yellow chocobo, staying near Cecil and Tellah all the while. Tellah ran as fast as his old body could, which turned out to be about as quickly as the dark knight was running with all his armor still on. About thirty minutes later, they finally approached the staircase into the now-ruined castle of Damcyan.

"huff We're huff here," Cecil panted.

Kain and Rydia dismounted, and Rydia took a moment to release the bond of summoning that was on the chocobo. The bird faded from existence before their eyes as the two who had run all the way took a moment to catch their breath and drink a potion to mask the pain their bodies now felt.

"Let's go inside," Kain said when it appeared that Cecil and Tellah and recovered sufficiently.

"Yes," Tellah simply said.

The four ascended the stone stairs to the gate of the Damcyan Castle. The stone masonry was cracked and crumbling in places from the bombing. Fires still burned wherever there was wood, and the shafts of arrows stuck out of any and every place they managed to pierce. Bodies, both those of the slain and those of the wounded, lay everywhere in the courtyard. The crackling of fires and the cries and moaning of the dying were the only sounds to be heard in this ruin of death. The immense doors that led to the main portion of the castle were found to be shattered by the four travelers, shattered by the blast of the bombs and perhaps the onslaught of magic. All was laid waste here.

The four pushed aside the remains of the grand doors and stepped into the main halls of the castle. The inner parts of the castle were less demolished that the outside, but there were far more dead and dying people lying on the floor. Outside, all the bodies had been those of soldiers. Here on the inside, the bodies of soldiers mixed with those of civilians who had fought to protect their homes and the women and children who had tried to hide themselves away. No a one was spared, it seemed. The horrible stench of death filled the nostrils of Cecil and his companions.

Through the halls the group walked, at every turn finding even more evidence of the massacre the army of Baron had wrought. Up two flights of stairs they climbed, until finally the travelers came to the throne room of the castle. The floor was covered with bodies in this room, the bodies of soldiers who had died to protect their country as well as the bodies of the royal family. The body of a white haired who wore splendid robes in life lay on the throne, pierced through the heart with uncountable arrows. The most important body, though, was found in the middle of the room. It was the body of a dark haired young woman, dressed in a simple yellow dress that reached to her ankles. Numerous arrows were embedded in her chest as well.

"Anna?" a voice both confused and distraught said, "Anna!"

Tellah the sage ran over to the body of this fallen young woman. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone move out from behind a pillar. The sage turned to face this potential threat, grasping his staff with both hands so as to use it as a weapon. The person he had seen was a young man dressed in fine crimson clothing. A hat with a feather sticking out of it sat atop the man's head, and under his arm he carried a fine harp.

"You," Tellah said, his voice falling to a growl, "You're that bard!"

The sage rushed at the man, swinging his staff wildly at the bard. The bard dodged the crazed old man as best he could, but still ended up being struck several times by the blunt weapon.

"You...YOU SPOONY BARD!" Tellah cried out in absolute rage as he continued his attack.

"Wait!" the bard shrieked as he dodged more blows.

Off to the side, Cecil, Kain and Rydia stood watching the proceedings. They did not interfere since the bard did not seem dangerous, but the two knights had their weapons drawn none the less.

_"Spoony? That's the stupidest curse I've ever heard someone use,"_ Kain whispered to Cecil.

Cecil merely rolled his eyes at this comment. Rydia on the other hand gasped.

"What?" Cecil asked the girl.

"That word Mr. Tellah used. My mom told me to never ever say that word," Rydia replied.

"I guess it must be a horrible curse in some obscure language only mages use," Cecil said to Kain.

"ROT IN HELL!" the sage shouted at the bard, interrupting Cecil and Kain's conversation.

"P-P-Please listen," the bard uttered while being pounded by the sage.

"Shut up and die!" Tellah said in response to the bard's pleading.

"Forgive me!" the other man cried out while fleeing in terror from the enraged wizard.

Just then, a faint feminine voice saying, "Stop," could be heard coming from behind the combatants. Tellah froze in place at the sound of this voice, his staff hovering above the bard's head. The bard merely broke down crying.

"A...Anna," the sage said in astonishment as he knelt down beside his dying daughter, "You're still alive. Here, let me heal you."

"No, father," the young woman said, "It's too late for me. Father, Edward is...the prince of Damcyan. Forgive me for running away...but I love Edward. I love you too, though, and I knew I couldn't...marry without your blessing. I was about to leave for home..."

"But then Baron's Red Wings, led by a man named Golbez, attacked us out of the blue," the now-injured bard finished for her, sitting down beside her as well.

"Who's this Golbez?" Cecil asked coldly, his anger rising. Whoever his successor was, he must be a bloodthirsty and evil man for attacking a kingdom like this. Even Mysidia did not compare to what had occurred this day.

"A monster of a man who wears pitch black armor like your own," Prince Edward replied, "He wields incredibly powerful magic. Beyond that, though, I have no idea."

"But why attack Damcyan?" asked the dark knight.

"The Crystal of Fire," the bard said, "They attacked us without warning with bombs and a flurry of arrows. The knights led by Golbez came later to take the crystal. Mother...father...both killed. I would be dead too, now, but Anna jumped in front of me and shielded me from the arrows."

"You loved him that much?" Tellah asked his daughter, incredulous.

"Forgive me...father. Edward...I...love...you..." came the dying words of Anna. The sage Tellah and Edward both bowed their heads as they looked down on the body of their loved one.

"Anna!" Edward choked out as he sobbed.

"Anna!!!" the sage howled at the mostly empty castle, "GOLBEZ! I'LL KILL YOU! YOU'LL DIE FOR THIS!!!"

"Anna, please don't leave me," the prince sobbed, "Wake up. Please. Anna!"

"Shut up, you weakling," Tellah snapped at the weeping prince, "Tears won't bring her back."

Tellah marched out of the throne room, throwing Cecil out of his way on the way out.

"Tellah, wait!" the dark knight called out to the retreating wizard.

"Revenge on Golbez is mine. Mine! Do you hear me? I don't need that girl, I don't need that arrogant dragoon, and I DON'T NEED YOU," the enraged wizard yelled at Cecil before storming off down the stairs and disappearing from sight.

Cecil and his companions stood there in shocked silence at the furious exit of the sage they had traveled with these past few days. All that could be heard now was the faint moaning of the dying and the weeping of the last descendant of the royal family of Damcyan.

"Anna..." Prince Edward said over and over as he wept over the body of his fallen beloved.

The young summoner, who had been quiet for the most part during this entire ordeal, stomped off to where Edward sat and looked him straight in the eye.

"Stop crying, you baby!" the Rydia ordered the prince, "You're a grownup. Grownups aren't supposed to cry! And you're not the only one who's lost somebody. My mom and all my friends died... but I'm not going to cry any more. No more!"

"I don't care," the grief-stricken prince told her, "Go away and leave me alone. I'm going to stay here with Anna and die beside her. Never...I'll never leave her side..."

Cecil, watching this entire display and hearing the prince's words, marched over and struck Edward upside the head.

"Oww..." the bard said, shrinking back before the dark knight.

"THAT...IS...ENOUGH!!!" Cecil shouted at the cringing prince, "You're now the rightful king of Damcyan, so grow up and act like it! You alone are left alive, so step up and lead. You owe it to your parents, to your people, and _most of all_ to Anna."

Stepping back and collecting himself, Cecil continued in a calmer voice, "Your majesty, my name is Cecil, once a Dark Knight of Baron. My friends and I need your help."

"Wha?" Edward said, clearly not expecting this turnaround in the behavior of these people toward him.

"My friend is sick and dying of the desert fever in Kaipo. We need the Sand Ruby to save her," Cecil continued.

"...her...what is her name?" the bard said with a more steady voice.

"Rosa."

"Rosa...she is dear to you, just like Anna is to me," the prince said, now understanding the plight of these strangers, "The Sand Ruby can be found in the Antlion's nest in the east. I'll take you there myself in one of the hovercrafts. It's the least I can do. No one...should have to see their beloved die in their arms..."

"Thank you, your majesty," Cecil said, bowing as low as his armor would permit.

"Please...drop the 'your majesty' bit," Edward replied.

"Whatever you say...your majesty," Cecil replied with humor in his voice.

At this, Kain broke out laughing. In due time, Cecil joined him as well, and then Rydia and Edward. The laughter seemed out of place in these halls of the dead, but it lifted the moods of those left alive, and encouraged them to carry on in the journey called 'life.'

"Let's go," Cecil said, still chuckling.

"Very well," Edward replied.

The others walked on down the stairs ahead of him, and Edward took the time to say one last thing to his beloved Anna before following them down.

"Goodbye...Anna."

  
"Ah," Kain said as he gulped down some water, "This really hits the spot." 

"I suppose it should," Edward replied from behind the steering wheel of the hovercraft, "After all, you all walked across a desert, up a castle, and then proceeded to scream your lungs out at me."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Spoony," Kain retorted. A few seconds later, the dragoon began to chuckle.

"Spoony...that old coot couldn't even make sense when he's cursing at someone," he thought out loud.

"Hmm...I suppose that incident was rather funny, now that I think about it," the bard said upon hearing Kain's comment, "Except for the 'people dying' part, that is."

Rydia gasped as she heard what the two grownups were talking about.

"That's a bad word, Mr. Kain," she scolded, as only a child can.

"Yeah, yeah," Kain said, "Whatever. Say, why don't you go talk to Cecil or something?"

"Mr. Cecil's practicing with his sword. He told me to wait up here."

"Great," Kain muttered, "Kain the Dragoon, brought down to the level of babysitter."

Apparently, he hadn't muttered it quietly enough, as Edward quipped, "You mean babysitting's _not_ your job?"

"You looking to die, bard?"

"_I_ wasn't the one joking about how Tellah reacted to seeing his daughter dying!" Edward retorted while glaring at the knight.

"Kain, stop it!" Cecil told his friend as he entered the room, "I'm sorry, but you can't kill Edward..."

Kain grumbled at this and glared, while Edward merely had a triumphant look on his face. Both of their expressions changed, however, as Cecil finished what he was saying.

"...At least not until we have the Sand Ruby."

"Hey, wait a second!" the bard exclaimed, shocked at the turnabout.

"Eyes on the road...er...shoals, your majesty," Cecil told the bard with mock politeness.

"What does everyone have against bards, anyway?" Edward grumbled darkly as he turned back to steering the hovercraft across the waters and toward the Antlion's Nest.

  
The dark knight, the dragoon, the bard, and the summoner stood before the drafty mouth of a cave. Behind them sat the large vehicle known as a 'hovercraft' that they had traveled to this place in. The mouth of the cave was rather large, round and dark, as though it were created by a giant earthworm. From within, the four travelers could hear the scuttling of large insects and the shrieks of goblins. 

"This is it," the Edward told them, "The Antlion's Nest. Sorry about the monsters. We were about to mount an extermination expedition when the...attack came."

"It'll be fine," Cecil said after a pause, "I think we can deal with a few beasties. Rydia?"

Rydia closed her eyes and concentrated. A few moments later, a brilliant white globe of light appeared near her.

"Amazing," Edward said.

"This kid's just full of tricks," Kain said, placing his hand on Rydia's shoulder.

"Let's go," Cecil told them before stepping into the gloom of the cave.

When they had all stepped into the cave, Rydia amplified her spell, casting light on most of the room they were in. The Antlion's Nest was a large cave with a vaulted ceiling. A few rock columns could be seen here and there, but the immense room was mostly empty. The four adventurers walked further into the cave, paying no attention to the hisses of monsters coming from the dark corners of the caves. For close to an hour they walked, mostly uninterrupted. The few things that dared attack them were mostly goblins and a few overgrown bugs, all of which fell before Cecil's dark sword and Kain's lance. Edward chose to hang back from the battles to sing songs of war and victory to encourage his companions. When they were not battling, though, he tried to play as little as possible, so as not to attract any undue attention from the monsters.

Eventually, the group came across a door. Edward walked right up, opened it, and stepped within. Not wanting to be considered a coward, Kain followed the bard in. Cecil and Rydia brought up the rear. Inside, they found what seemed to be a break room of some sort. The walls were reinforced with wood so as to prevent a cave in. In the middle of the room were a table and some benches, one of which Edward was found sitting on when the others entered the room.

"What is this?" Cecil marveled as he walked into the unexpected room.

"A break room," Edward told him, "The workers who harvest the Sand Rubies use it when they're not on duty. I thought we could use a short rest before heading further down."

"So we're taking a break because the bard is tired?" Kain taunted.

Edward glared at him before replying, "That and there are some supplies in those cabinets over there that we might find useful."

"What's this?" Cecil said, holding up a glass sphere that he found in the cabinet Edward pointed them to, "The cabinet's full of these crystal balls."

"Those cast spells," Rydia said quietly, "My mom taught me about them a few weeks ago. A spell's already trapped inside, and you concentrate to release it."

"Like this?" Cecil said.

The dark knight closed his eyes and concentrated on the ball. The sphere grew colder in his hand as he focused. A yelp coming from Edward's direction brought him back to reality. Opening his eyes, he saw the wooden table and benches covered in a light frost. Edward, still sitting on the frozen bench, seemed to be struggling to get up since the frost had managed to partially cover his pants as well. Kain, on the other hand, was laughing at Edward's plight.

"It's not funny!" the bard whined.

"Umm...Did I do...that?" Cecil asked the others.

"Yes, you did," Edward snapped at the dark knight, "So help me get up."

"Alright, fine. Kain, grab a knife or something and help me."

The two knights set to work chipping the ice off of Edward. Rydia merely sat and watched the display, not lifting a finger to help. Finally, the ice was mostly chipped off, and Edward was once again able to stand.

"Let's not do that again," Edward told the two.

Before he could do anything, though, Rydia had already walked over to the cabinet and picked up a few more of the spheres.

"Wait a second," the now paranoid bard said as he began to dash over to her.

"It's all right," the girl replied calmly, "These ones are warp spells."

"How can you tell?" Edward asked her suspiciously.

"It's written right here," she responded, "See? T E L E P O R T. That's the name of the spell."

"Outdone by a kid," Cecil grumbled.

"Hey, it's not your fault. You don't have any magical training," Kain said, trying to cheer the man up, "Besides, it's not every day you get to see royalty frozen like that."

"Let's go," Edward said as he left the room in a huff.

The four travelers left the break room and descended further into the cave. As always, Edward let the others do the dirty work when monsters attacked while he hid in the shadows or sang a song to try to encourage everyone else. Eventually, they came to a rather large, rather bowl-like room. The ground sloped downward from the edges of the room, meeting in a sandy pit at the center.

"This is it," Edward told them, "The nest itself, where the Antlion lays its eggs. The Antlion's a tame creature, so I'll just run down there and grab the Sand Ruby."

Edward slid down the slope deftly, amazing Kain who was somewhat expecting the bard to trip and fall somewhere. Once he had reached the sand pit, the bard walked over to a slight depression in the ground and reached out to grab the prized Sand Ruby. Before he could get it, though, a monstrous shape emerged from a nearby mound of sand. The form was similar to that of an ant, but was almost as tall as a man. The beast swiped at Edward with its monstrous pincers, causing Edward to scream and run in terror.

"Kain, Rydia! Let's go!" Cecil ordered the other two before sliding down the slope himself.

Once he had reached the sand pit, Cecil drew his sword and charged at the aggressive Antlion. He swung down toward the beast, and tore at its carapace. The beast screamed in pain and responded by slashing down at the knight with both pincers. His shield managed to partially block the counterattack, but the pincers had managed to pierce an unprotected part of his sword arm. Cecil grabbed his arm and backed up, preparing to defend himself if need be.

"I thought you said it was tame?" Cecil shouted at the bard.

"I thought it was!" the bard yelled back, "It's never attacked a person like this before!"

Rydia had reached the sand pit by now, and prepared to cast a spell. Kain hadn't bothered to slide down, but rather swooped down and attacked the Antlion from the air with his spear. The weapon pierced the Antlion's shell, causing it once again to writhe in pain. The beast tried to counterattack like before, but the dragoon leaped out of the way of the pincers with ease.

"I'll take care of this," Kain told Cecil before jumping to attack again, "You worry about protecting Edward and Rydia."

"Blizzard!" Rydia called out as she completed her spell.

A wave of cold and ice assaulted the Antlion, partially covering it in frost and freezing parts of it in place. Kain then fell upon the partially immobilized beast, and thrust his spear deep into the Antlion's head. The beast began to thrash back and forth as best it could, trying with all its might to dislodge the spear. Cecil took this opportunity to break ranks and charge at the beast. He focused a small amount of life energy into his blade, and brought it down on the monster's neck while the beast was preoccupied with Kain. The energy-enhanced sword slid through the monster easily and detached its head from the rest of its body. The Antlion thrashed about a bit more before finally laying still.

Kain drew his spear out of the monster's head and carefully wiped it off on the sand. Cecil did likewise with his sword. Edward still hung back for a few moments, trying to assure himself that the beast was dead before heading back to the pit where the eggs were. He hesitantly reached in again, and withdrew what appeared to be a dull red stone about two inches in diameter.

"Here it is, the Sand Ruby," Edward said as he showed the stone to the two knights.

"Doesn't look like much, does it?" Cecil commented.

"No, it doesn't. It's really not a rock, but a hardened mass resulting from the fluids that the Antlion secretes while it lays its eggs," the bard told them.

"Too much information," Kain said, "But if it'll cure Rosa..."

"We'd better get going," Cecil said, the comment regarding Rosa jerking him back to the matter at hand, "Rydia, could you get us out of here."

Rydia didn't say anything, but rather walked over to the three adults and pulled out one of the glass globes she had found earlier. Flash of light engulfed the travelers and they were gone. Darkness once again ruled in what was once Antlion's Nest, a place that was now the Antlion's Tomb.  
.


	6. Book I, Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IV and the official English (mis)translations of the game belong to Square-Enix, not me. Any original ideas or characters I introduce _do_ belong to me, however. 

Regarding Updates: I know I've said that I'll try to be a little more regular about my updates, but I'm going to lose a steady internet connection this next week since I'm moving. I'll be drifting for most of December, but I'll be settled in again and have a consistant internet connection in early January. In the mean time I'll try to keep this story going as best I can and update when I can get on.

As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames will be laughed at.

* * *

_Chapter 5_

Cecil and his companions walked through the streets of Kaipo once more, this time walking into town in the morning. It had been several days since they had left in search of the Sand Ruby to cure Rosa's illness, and the dark knight hoped against hope that they were not too late. Down the sand-filled streets they walked, drawing curious stared because of their uncommon manner of dress. At the far end of town, the group found the house they were looking for: the home of the village doctor, the place where Rosa was being cared for. Cecil all but ran into the house with the Sand Ruby.

"Ah, you're back," the doctor said upon seeing the dark knight, "I'm sorry, but your friend is still not well."

"Here, use this," Cecil told the doctor, holding the Sand Ruby out for the doctor to take.

"A Sand Ruby! How did you manage to get tha..." the doctor said, cutting himself off when he saw Prince Edward walk into the house.

"Prince Edward!" the doctor said while bowing, "Why do you honor us with your presence?"

"I'm...ah...helping these people for now," the prince told the doctor, obviously not comfortable with being recognized as the prince.

"Very well," the doctor replied, not yet satisfied with the given answer yet not wanting to anger one of the rulers of the land, "I suppose I should get to work on distilling a proper medicine from this Sand Ruby. You four can stay here if you like."

"Thank you for your kind offer," Edward quickly said to the doctor before Cecil managed to do much more than open his mouth, "I think I'll stay here and play my harp for a while. I can watch Rydia if you want, Cecil."

"I'm going to head to the bar and grab a drink or three," Kain told the others, briefly glancing at Rosa as he did so.

The dragoon began removing his armor, carefully placing it in a pile in one of the corners of the doctor's house.

Cecil's gaze rested on Rosa's face for quite a while before he finally said, "I'll join Kain at the bar. I'll be back shortly."

The dark knight removed his armor as well, and placed it in a pile near Kain's. The two knights, now merely wearing some light tunics and trousers, walked out the door of the doctor's house. With Cecil's exit, the doctor's house was mostly quiet once more. The sounds of the doctor pounding the Sand Ruby into smaller pieces and then grinding it in his mortar and pestle filled the room. Edward looked over at Rydia, the young child from Mist, and spoke.

"Looks like it's just you and me, for now," the prince said to the young summoner, "Is there any particular song you'd like to listen to?"

  
The dark knight known as Cecil returned to the doctor's house after having a few drinks with Kain. Kain hadn't exactly been in a particularly social mood for some reason, not that Cecil could blame him. 

_'The three of us have known each other since we were kids,'_ Cecil thought, _'All those years playing together, hanging out together training together...after all that it's a wonder that we're not all closer than we actually are. Of course he's worried about Rosa, just as...I...am...'_

As Cecil approached the doctor's house, the sweet notes of a harp made the air heavy with music. The song sounded familiar to Cecil for some reason, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Pondering this, he quietly opened the door and entered the building. Edward sat on a stool in the main room, and Rydia was sitting at his feet, hugging her knees, and listening to the music he was playing. Watching the scene, Cecil could have sworn that he saw a trace of a tear in the girl's eye. As the final strains of the melody faded into nothingness, Cecil began clapping. This sudden sound made Rydia, who had apparently not seen Cecil's entrance, jump.

"What a nice song, sounded familiar for some reason. What is it called?" Cecil asked the bard.

"It doesn't exactly have a real title, but I call it 'Phantom Memories,'" Edward said, "It's a piece that was supposed to have originated in the village of Mist. Rydia asked me to play it."

"I...see..." Cecil said, lost in thought, _'From the village of Mist!? Why is it so familiar to me, then? I'd never been there before I...burned it down.'_

The knight's thoughts were interrupted by the doctor's voice.

"It's done!" the doctor exclaimed before cackling quite a bit, "Now for the moment of truth..."

The doctor walked over to Rosa, tilted her head back slightly and opened her mouth. He poured a rather nasty-looking mixture down her throat. The young woman coughed a few times since it did not all go down properly, but quieted down soon enough. The doctor returned to his chair and began to work some more on grinding down the Sand Ruby.

"That's it?" an incredulous dark knight asked the doctor.

"Yes, that's all. Now we just wait the medicine to kick in. You weren't expecting something flashy, like the girl waking up as soon as the medicine touched her, now did you?" the doctor replied.

"Well..."

"Hah! This isn't a storybook tale or anything!" the doctor said with a smirk, "I'm a doctor, I deal in medicine, not miracles! All potions take time to kick in, you know."

A still pause hung in the air. Cecil stared at Rosa, the doctor turned back to his work. Edward brought everyone back to the present with his voice.

"Anyone up for another song?"

  
Rosa awakened to the notes of a lullaby that her mother used to sing for her. Curious as to what was going on, she slowly opened her eyes. She found herself lying in a bed in a small room. An old man sat at a nearby desk, pounding away with a mortar and pestle. In an adjoining room she saw four figures. A man in colorful clothing befitting an entertainer in a royal court sat on a stool, playing a harp. The song he played was the lullaby that she had woken to the sounds of. At the man's feet sat a young girl with green hair. Near this girl sat a dark haired man wearing the tunic of a Knight of Baron. Finally, leaning against one of the walls was another man that looked to be a Knight of Baron, this one with golden hair. 

"Ce...cil? ...Kain?" she said.

The doctor was the only one who heard her voice over Edward's song. He turned around, and upon seeing that her eyes were open, shouted to the others.

"She's awake!"

The sound of the harp stopped abruptly, the news snapping everyone to the immediate reality. The dark haired knight ran over to Rosa's bedside.

"Rosa!" the man cried out.

"Cecil? Cecil! You're alive!" Rosa said happily as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Rosa." was all that Cecil said as he embraced the woman he loved. Tears ran down his cheeks as well.

"Why are they crying?" Rydia asked softly, trying not to interrupt the scene before her, "I thought grownups weren't supposed to cry."

Kain didn't say a word. Rydia looked up at the knight and found that he was, in fact, looking away from the scene for some reason. She was about to ask Kain why he was looking away when Edward answered her original question.

"They're crying because they're happy," the bard told her, "This is one time when it's okay for grownups to cry."

"Because they're...happy?" Rydia said, crinkling her nose in her inability to understand this concept.

The bard saw this and replied, "You'll probably understand when you get older."

Cecil and Rosa, their tears of joy now spent, pulled away and looked at each other.

"How are you feeling?" Cecil asked her.

"I'm fine. What about you? I thought I'd lost you. Weren't you and Kain in Mist during the earthquake and landslide?" Rosa responded.

"Yeah, but we're fine now. I'm sorry to have worried you," Cecil said, his voice trailing off.

After a short period of silence, Cecil asked in a more serious tone of voice, "Rosa, who is Golbez? What sort of madness is going on in Baron?"

"Golbez?" Rosa said, thinking for a second before trying to answer Cecil's question, "He's the new captain of the Red Wings. He just appeared one day out of the blue, and suddenly the king appointed him to your old post. I think he's manipulating the king and trying to go after the crystals himself. He's already got Mysidia's Crystal of Water, so I'm sure he'll go after the other three."

Rosa fell into a fit of coughing after saying all this.

Hearing Rosa's comments, Edward spoke up, "The Crystal of Fire...is already in his hands."

Rosa looked at the man, then at the young girl standing nearby, and finally looked back at Cecil with a puzzled look on her face. Cecil understood her wordless question and answered her.

"That's Prince Edward of Damcyan. The little girl is Rydia, a summoner from Mist that I've been taking care of since the disasters at Mist. And Kain's back there somewhere, being his old grouchy self. All of them helped me get the Sand Ruby to cure your fever."

"A pleasure to meet you," Edward greeted her as he stepped forward and bowed.

Rydia walked up to Rosa's bedside and simply said, "Hi."

Kain, having now turned around since Cecil had brought him to Rosa's attention, said, "Glad to have you back, Rosa. You worried all of us."

Rosa laughed lightly and replied to all of these greetings, "Hello, Prince Edward...Rydia...Kain. Thank you all so much."

The white wizard turned once more to Cecil, and said, "Cecil, after Damcyan, the next easiest target for Golbez would be Fabul since the forests of Toroia are too thick to use airships effectively. We've got to..."

Before she could finish, Rosa once more fell into a fit of coughing.

"Don't worry about it, Rosa. We'll take care of it tomorrow. For now, you get some rest," Cecil told her.

"But to get to Fabul...we'll have to cross Mount Hobbs," Prince Edward said, mostly to himself, "But a few days ago I heard a report that the trail was blocked by a wall of ice..."

Rosa, ignoring Cecil's advice, sat up again and rejoined the conversation.

"Ice? That can be melted away with a simple fire spell. Rydia, can you cast Fire?"

For a moment, Rydia's face was filled with panic, but this was gone as soon as it had come. She looked away from the others, unsure of what to say or do.

"...No," is what she finally said, and this hesitantly.

Rosa was puzzled by this. She was trying to let Rydia be the hero, but...a summoner that couldn't cast a basic fire spell? Such a thing was unheard of.

"But Fire is the most basic of all the black magic spells," Rosa told the young girl, "You're a summoner, you should be able to cast that --"

She was unable to finish, falling again into a fit of coughing.

"Rosa, stop this!" Cecil pleaded with his loved one, "I know what you're trying to do. You're **not** coming with us...not in the condition you're in."

"I'll be fine, really," Rosa replied, trying desperately to convince Cecil, "I'm a white wizard, so I'm sure I wouldn't become a burden. I'll just use healing spells on myself."

She finally just broke down crying. She had come all this way to be with Cecil, only to be told to stay put.

Edward empathized with her, and spoke in her defense, "Cecil, Rosa just wants to be with you..."

_'...Just like I wish to be with Anna right now,'_ Edward finished in his mind.

Edward's statement created in Cecil a whirlwind of emotion and memory. He remembered the events of these last few days: Rydia's tears of sorrow over her mother's dead body, his own internal breakdown when he found Rosa sick and possibly dying, Tellah's determination to save his daughter and Edward's pain and tears over the deaths of his family and future wife. He remembered all the emotions that had built up inside of him and caused him to go to any length to save Rosa, just so he could see her face full of life one more time.

"A...alright, she can come along," Cecil finally said with a voice full of emotion, "Rosa...just make sure you get enough rest tonight, please."

Rosa's tears stopped, and she looked up at Cecil, beaming.

"Cecil...thank you," she said, still trying to blink away her tears.

"Everyone, let's get some rest tonight. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Cecil said to everyone in the room.

  
Later that night, Edward found himself out by the waters of the oasis, softly strumming his harp while looking at the silver moon above and the shimmering waters below. 

"Anna...I miss you so much," He said to the sky, "What do I do now?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow move. His instincts kicked in, so he hid behind a nearby bush until he got a better look at what was going on. From the waters of the oasis emerged a greenish humanoid with webbed appendages. It looked around and sniffed the air, as though looking for something.

_'A Saihag!'_ Edward thought, _'What's it doing here?'_

The beast continued to sniff the air, as though searching for something. Suddenly, it turned and began moving away from the bush Edward was hiding behind. Edward let out a soft sigh of relief. Then he saw what the monster was actually up to. A short distance away was a young girl with dark hair, oblivious to everything except the moon above. The Saihag was creeping up on the child, its fangs bared and claws raised, ready to either eat or maim the girl.

_'No! Not the girl!'_

The monster continued to gain on the girl, yet Edward found himself unable to do anything. All he could do was hide and watch the slaughter.

From the depths of his memory, something Cecil said the other day came to him, _"You're now the rightful king of Damcyan, so grow up and act like it!"_

_'Act like a king. How do I do that?'_

_"You alone are left alive, so step up and lead,"_ Cecil's voice echoed in his mind.

_'Why? Why should I act like a king? Why should I lead?'_

_"You owe it to your parents, to your people, and **most of all** to Anna."_

_'Anna...'_

Edward looked down, unable to look at the impending massacre any longer. Then he saw it, the sword. Somehow, Cecil's sword was lying at his side, a blade of darkness, but a weapon nonetheless.

_'I **will** lead. I will protect my people. For Anna!'_

The bard picked up the sword, and held it as best he could. Long ago, before he had begun learning how to be a bard, Edward had been trained in weapons of combat. The old instincts returned to him, and the weapon was suddenly like an extension of himself. Sword raised, he charged out of the bushes in a battle rage, running toward the monster that was about to threaten the child of Kaipo.

"FOR ANNA!" he shouted as his battle cry as he brought the blade down upon the beast.

The sword did not cleave through, but merely caused a gash in the creature's shoulder. The beast turned and bared it's claws and teeth at him. Then it lunged at him with its claws to tear out the prince's throat. Edward stepped backward to dodge the blow, and then brought the sword back around, toward the creature. The blow caught the Saihag on the side. Back and forth the two combatants fought. Dodge, parry, slash, lunge. The battle instincts returned to Edward as though it was yesterday that he learned them. As he fought on, Cecil's sword began to glow, dimly at first, but then brightly. With a final cry, Edward brought the sword down on the creature once more, and to his surprise, the sword cleaved through the beast completely. The monster fell to the ground, dead.

Edward panted deeply, the battle rage leaving him as quickly as it had come. He dropped the sword, and it clattered to the ground. The bard turned to see if the girl was alright, but to his surprise, she was no longer there. Rather, Anna stood in her place.

"Anna!" Edward cried out in joy, "Anna, this is just...too good to be true."

"Yes, it is," she replied sadly, "This is, after all, just a dream. I was able to use it to come back and say one last thing to you."

Edward listened and waited. His heart was full of sadness and happiness at once, sadness because this was just a dream, but happiness from being able to see Anna and hear her voice one more time.

His love continued, "You are the king now, and everyone in Damcyan and Kaipo is going to look to you for guidance. Edward, be strong and be brave, just like you were just now when you defended a girl from a monster. You loved me...now give your love to the people of your country."

With this said, she began to fade from sight.

"Anna! Don't go! I need you, I love you!" Edward shouted at the vanishing apparition.

"I love you too," he heard, "Please, for my sake, move on with your life. Goodbye...Edward..."

"ANNAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

  
The next morning, Edward was the last one to wake. By the time he was out of bed and getting dressed, Cecil and Kain had already prepared their armor and headed out into town to get provisions for the upcoming journey. As he got ready for the day in silence, Edward thought deeply on the dream he had last night. Shortly after the two knights returned to the house, the five travelers left town and boarded the hovercraft. Once again, Edward piloted it. 

"Cecil?" he called over his shoulder while he piloted.

There was no response.

"Cecil?" he again called, and again there was no response.

"Cecil!" he said a third time.

"He's not here," the voice of Kain replied, "He's...spending time with Rosa."

"Oh," Edward said blandly, his thoughts returning to Anna, "Perhaps you could help me, then."

"I doubt it, but go ahead, bard," Kain responded.

"Alright," Edward began, "What does it mean to ?"

"Courage?" Kain said, startled, "This coming from the guy who hid during fights when we were in the Antlion's Nest?"

"Yeah," Edward said slightly downcast, "I had a dream last night. It made me think."

"Dream? Tell me about it," Kain said, curious at what would cause such a change in the cowardly prince.

Edward told the dragoon everything about the dream. He told him about playing his harp under the moon, hiding from the Saihag and becoming filled with rage and fighting the Saihag. Finally, Edward got to the part about Anna.

"Then Anna appeared," Edward said, continuing his story, "And she told me to be strong and brave. To give my love to the people of my country."

"Hmm..." Kain said, thinking.

"What is it?" Edward pleaded.

"Well, I'm probably the last one who should be saying this, but let me tell you what my mentor told me about courage," Kain said, "He told me, 'Courage isn't just going out and fighting for your country. It's going out and facing your problems head on. I know plenty of knights who are renowned on the battlefield, but they're cowards because they fight as a way to run away from their problems.' That's the courage I'm trying to live up to, even if I fail at it most of the time."

Edward was shocked, both at the advice Kain had given him about courage and the things Kain had said about himself. From what he had seen, Kain was one of the most courageous people that Edward had ever met. The man fought viciously on the battlefield, fought on despite what the odds seemed to be, and even dared to fight against his own country in order to uphold the honor of the dragoons.

"Facing your problems head on..." Edward said to himself, not yet noticing that Kain had left the room, "Give my love to my country...Step up and lead..."

  
The group of travelers, with Cecil as their de facto leader, had finally arrived at the foot of Mount Hobbs. The mountain was mostly rocky, with plants being few and far between. A trail led up the mountain, up and across the mountain toward the Kingdom of Fabul. The group was just leaving the hovercraft and securing their backpacks when Edward decided to tell everyone what he had decided to do on the way over. 

"Everyone!" The prince shouted.

All heads turned toward him, most of them bearing looks of curiosity. After all, Edward had never drawn everyone's attention to himself on purpose before.

"I...I'm not going with you," he stuttered out.

"What?"

"Why?"

"Come on, you're one of us!"

"Stop, please," Edward pleaded with the group, "This is what I need to do. I'm the King of Damcyan, now, and my people need me to lead them, especially with the castle in ruins. I'm not going to go with you to Fabul, because that would be just running away from my people when they most need me and the responsibilities of kingship. I'm not going to run from my problems, I'm going to face them head on."

Looks ranging from shock to pride appeared on the faces of his companions. None of them had expected this from Edward, not even Rosa.

Edward continued, "Cecil, thank you for showing me what it is to be a leader. Rydia, thank you for helping me realize that I wasn't the only one who has to deal with pain and sadness. Kain, thank you for telling me what courage is and for modeling it for me. Rosa, I didn't really get to know you, but please take care of everyone with your white magic...as my replacement."

All was still. Edward waited for the reaction of the others to his news. Cecil was still trying to process all that had happened. Kain was secretly glowing with pride in the cowardly prince finally growing a backbone. Rydia was a little confused and sad that Edward had to go away, especially since he knew the songs from her village. Rosa didn't quite know what to do since she had only met the bard the other day. Finally, Cecil spoke up.

"Well...we'll miss you, Edward," Cecil slowly began, "But if this is what you this is what you need to do, go for it. Sometimes I forget that someone needs to stay behind and clean up the messes we make after everyone else has gone on to the next thing. Good luck...King Edward."

Shock once again crossed the faces of the others. Cecil should have tried to convince him to stay, this wasn't like Cecil. Yet...it was what Cecil knew he had to say. Edward was right, Damcyan is in ruins still, and they need their king to lead them in picking up the shattered pieces of the kingdom and put them back together so that life could go on.

"Cecil?" Edward said as he took a ring off his finger and held it out to the dark knight, "Take this ring, please."

Cecil hesitantly took the ring and looked at it. It was a band of silver metal with a red jewel inset in it. There were all sorts of elaborate designs on the band, and the red jewel had some odd engravings in it as well.

"What's this?" Cecil asked.

"It's a token that my kingdom uses as a form of proof that the bearer carries with him the will and trust of Damcyan. Show it to the King of Fabul, and he'll receive you like ambassadors from Damcyan."

"Thank you, your highness," Cecil said with a stiff bow, all too aware of the official nature that this expedition was taking on.

"Please, call me Edward," the bard said with a short laugh.

"Farewell, Edward," Cecil said, still a bit formally, before picking up his backpack and heading up the trail.

When no one followed him, he turned around and said, "What are you waiting for? Come on, we need to help Fabul!"

The others slowly grabbed their packs, waved goodbye to Edward and fell in behind Cecil. Kain was the last to go, for he had one last thing to say to Edward before they left.

"Good job," the dragoon said before heading up the trail to the summit of Mount Hobbs, "I didn't know you actually had it in you."

Edward watched the others head up the trail, now confident that he had made the right choice. He waited for them for ten minutes to make sure that they managed to get through the ice. When he saw a bright flash of red light and the rising steam, he somehow knew that Rydia had made it through all right. The prince...no, king....smiled at this, got back into his hovercraft, and drove back to Kaipo where his people waited for him to lead them to the future.

* * *

**Comments to Reviewers**

dragoonknight1: Thanks for telling me about the "three adventurers" mistype. I suppose I was thinking a bit too much about how the game actually played at that part while I was writing. That probably shows the value of actually reading over my work in detail before I post it. I'll be sure to correct it, and try to be more careful of these things in the future.

Reddo Meijisu: Glad you enjoyed Requiem. Honestly, it was originally a stand alone story that I got a flash of inspiration for about a week after I had finished up Chapter 4. After finishing it, though, I decided that it would make an excellent side story or interlude.

C. R. Carter: Thank you very, very much for the serious critique of chapter one. After going over it again, I will indeed admit that I seriously screwed it up. I'm trying to be a little less literal now and keep the story flowing, but description that borders on the excessive and overly detailed is something of my unique mark. I'm experimenting in some of my other stories with other styles, so we'll see if I can't get this to work better in the future. Now, as far as Rydia's mother goes, I'll consider writing another side story about that, but don't count on it. The plot for the entire story is basically written already, and more details of my vision of the village of Mist will play a role later on.


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